The NBA has issued a lifetime ban to a Toronto Raptors player, Jontay Porter, for his involvement in gambling on basketball games, marking the first instance of the league imposing such a severe penalty since the legalization of sports wagering in the US.

An investigation conducted by the NBA revealed that Porter had placed bets on basketball games and collaborated with at least one bettor to manipulate his own performance. The league’s statement on Wednesday outlined that Porter disclosed confidential information about his health and deliberately limited his participation in a game on March 20th, coinciding with a wager placed by an acquaintance predicting his underperformance in that match.

Porter’s expulsion represents one of the most stringent sanctions handed down following a 2018 US Supreme Court ruling that overturned a federal ban on sports wagering, allowing individual states to legalize it. Despite the legalization of sports betting in 38 states and the District of Columbia, professional leagues continue to prohibit players and staff from participating in gambling activities, especially on their respective sports.

Since 2018, several players in the National Football League have faced suspensions for betting on games, while Major League Baseball recently launched an investigation into allegations of illegal gambling involving star player Shohei Ohtani and his former translator, Ippei Mizuhara. The NBA stated that the investigation into Porter is ongoing, and it will continue to collaborate with federal prosecutors on the matter.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver emphasized the importance of protecting the integrity of the league’s competition, stating that Porter’s blatant violations of gaming rules warranted the most severe punishment.

Porter, a power forward who appeared in 26 games for the Raptors this season, is the brother of Michael Porter Jr. of the Denver Nuggets. According to the NBA’s findings, Porter placed approximately $54,000 in bets across 13 wagers on NBA games from January to March of this year. Additionally, three of these bets were “multi-game parlay bets that included one Raptors game, in which Porter bet that the Raptors would lose,” with all three resulting in losses.