Ontario’s gambling regulator moved to temporarily suspend the registration of PointsBet’s Canadian subsidiary after the online sportsbook allegedly failed to report suspicious wagers related to a 2024 bet-rigging scheme involving a pro basketball player with the

Toronto Raptors. 

The proposed suspension is for five days, marking the first time the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has taken such an action against a sportsbook since the Canadian province fully legalized

online sports wagers

in 2022.

After allegations of insider betting tied to former Raptors player Jontay Porter surfaced in 2024, the AGCO asked regulated sports gambling sites to report whether they had offered bets on the player’s statistics, the regulator said in a statement.

Initially, PointsBet Canada said it had not offered bets on Porter, the AGCO said, but walked back those remarks in October following a

U.S. Justice Department

indictment that exposed a larger insider-betting scheme.

PointsBet is considering appealing.

“PointsBet Canada is disappointed by the AGCO’s proposed sanction, and believe it is disproportionate given PointsBet Canada’s collective actions and strong compliance record,” Scott Vanderwel, chief executive officer of PointsBet Canada, said in a statement issued by its Australian parent company. The failure to disclose the Porter bets was unintentional, he said.

Porter had deliberately pulled himself out of games for injury and illness, allowing bettors he had conspired with to cash in on wagers that he would have a poor performance that day.

Porter pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a U.S. federal court in 2024. He has been banned from the National Basketball Association for life.

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In January, the AGCO fined FanDuel Canada, another sportsbook operator, for its failure to report suspicious betting and match-fixing activity in Czech table tennis tournaments. The regulator has previously sanctioned PointsBet for violations of advertising and responsible gaming standards.

Bloomberg.com