The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has issued a notice of proposed order to suspend the iGaming registration of PointsBet for a five-day period, alleging the operator failed to report suspicious betting patterns that were related to the investigation of former NBA player Jontay Porter.
In March 2024, Porter was found to have shared confidential injury information with gamblers, and would then place bets against his own team as well as over/unders for his point total, rebounds and fellow statistics.
As a result of the match-fixing allegations, Porter was given a lifetime ban from the NBA, and eventually plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in July.
Soon after the investigation was first introduced, the AGCO requested all Ontario-regulated sportsbooks to confirm whether it had offered bets on Porter or if any suspicious betting activity was found in relation. Following a “significant delay,” PointsBet advised the AGCO it had not offered any bets on Porter leading up to the suspension.
However, the public release of a US Department of Justice indictment forced the AGCO to once again confirm with Ontario operators whether any suspicious betting had occurred on Porter markets. 18 months after stating it never provided bets on the former NBA player, PointsBet acknowledged it offered such wagers for the first time.
“Upon obtaining and reviewing PointsBet’s wagering data, the AGCO confirmed the indications of suspicious betting that was central to the scheme uncovered in 2024. These wagers should have been detected and reported at the time the betting occurred,” the AGCO said.
“Regulated iGaming operators act as a critical first line of defense in protecting the integrity of sport and Ontario’s sports betting market. They are required to diligently monitor, detect and immediately report unusual and suspicious betting activity on their sites that may be indicative of bet-rigging.”
The regulator has previously sanctioned PointsBet with monetary penalties, including in May 2022 for advertising and inducement-related violations, as well as November 2023 for violations of Ontario’s responsible gambling standards.
AGCO CEO and Registrar Dr. Karin Schnarr also comments on the proposed suspension, having said, “Safeguarding the integrity of sports and Ontario’s sports betting market is a top priority for the AGCO. We require all operators to have robust systems and comprehensive staff training in place to reliably detect and report suspicious activity.
“Our regulatory framework is clear—operators must be equipped to detect and effectively respond to integrity risks, and we will take appropriate action when these standards are not met.”
The AGCO issued a $350,000 penalty to FanDuel Canada on January 8 for failing to identify unusual and suspicious betting activity on the Czech Table Tennis Star Series from October 23 to November 30, 2024
