Jontay Porter reportedly had a substantial gambling debt before his NBA betting scandal

A few months ago, former Raptors center Jontay Porter received a lifetime ban from the NBA. The 24-year-old disclosed confidential information to bettors. That completely violated the league's gambling policy. An investigation was launched in March after sportsbooks noticed betting irregularities for Porter. According to new reports, Porter owed large gambling debts to co-conspirators when he was violating league gambling policies. 

One of the co-conspirators working with Jontay Porter was Long Phi Pham, also known as Bruce. On Tuesday, a criminal complaint was filed against Mr. Pham at a federal court in Brooklyn, New York. The 38-year-old could face up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud related to NBA bets. The FBI arrested Bruce Pham on Monday as he was attempting to board a one-way flight to Australia. Additionally, the US Department of Justice reported that there are still three other co-conspirators at large. 

What were the other co-conspirators' involvement in this NBA betting scandal?

Jontay Porter, Bruce Pham, and three other co-conspirators were messaging on a group chat called Telegram. Despite their best interest to keep this information private, the FBI was still able to access their conversations on the Jontay Porter betting scandal. It all started because Porter had built up a large gambling debt and needed a way to pay it back and then some. On January 26, Porter told one of the co-conspirators that he was going to check out of a game early. 

With that information, the co-conspirator placed significant wagers on Porter’s under props for that night. Porter claimed to be injured early in that game, checking himself out early with an eye injury. Those under-prop bets cashed easily. Reportedly, one co-conspirator placed a $10,000 parlay on a variety of Porter’s unders. He had a net profit of $75,000 from that parlay. Additionally, another co-conspirator placed a $75,000 parlay and had a net profit of $33,250.

Porter and the co-conspirators worked together to win over $1 million on a parlay

In a group chat on March 20, Bruce Pham alerted the other co-conspirators that Jontay Porter would be checking out of a game early. They all agreed to share the profits and Pham was set to receive 24% of the winnings. That night, Pham and the co-conspirators went to a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey to place several under-prop bets and parlays on Jontay Porter. As planned, Porter checked out of the game after just three minutes claiming to be ill. Together, they won more than $1 million in profits. Porter's final bet was an $80,000 parlay with an online sportsbook to win $1.1 million. As a result of this case, the NBA and online betting markets are looking to ban props that involve two-way players like Jontay Porter. They could have avoided this mess in the first place.