Jontay Porter latest in long history of gambling bans

Porter bet on NBA games, including at least one parlay where he bet on the Raptors to lose. He also provided inside information to known bettors and removed himself from games to ensure gamblers’ “under” bets on his player props hit. Here are some of the notable athletes who have also received harsh punishment for gambling.

Jack Molinas: Molinas, the Fort Wayne Pistons' No. 3 pick in the 1953 NBA draft, played only 32 games — and made the All-Star team — before the NBA banned him for life in 1954 for betting on his own team's games. Later, Molinas would be a central figure in a college basketball point-shaving scandal, bribing players to throw games on behalf of the mob. Merely being associated with Molinas kept Hall of Famers Connie Hawkins and Roger Brown out of the NBA for years, and kept future ABA legend Doug Moe out of that league until age 29, even though none were ever accused of throwing games themselves.

Pete Rose: Baseball's all-time hits leader was managing the Cincinnati Reds in 1989 when baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti banned Rose for life for betting on baseball, though baseball agreed to make no formal finding of the allegations. Later, Rose admitted in his autobiography to betting on sports, including games involving the Reds. He claims he never bet against his own team, but in the year after his ban, new Reds manager Lou Piniella's team was in first place the entire season and swept the 1990 World Series.

Shane Pinto: The Ottawa Senators center became the first NHL player suspended for gambling since the 1940s when he received a 41-game ban for sports wagering. Pinto avoided a much harsher punishment when an investigation concluded that he'd never bet on NHL games, nor did any proxy bettors using his account. Without Pinto for half the season, the Senators failed to qualify for the playoffs for the seventh straight season.

The Black Sox: Eight members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox received lifetime bans after conspiring with gamblers to throw that year's World Series. That included "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, who signed a confession and testified to a grand jury about his guilt, and Buck Weaver, who didn't accept money or throw games but also didn't report on his knowledge of the plot. While ruling on the "Black Sox," baseball's first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, declared that any player found to have bet on baseball would be banned. That retroactively meant Hal Chase and Heinie Zimmerman, who'd conspired to fix games (and possibly the 1917 World Series) earlier in the decade were also banned.

Calvin Ridley: The Tennessee Titans wide receiver is the most prominent NFL player to get in trouble with gambling since 2018, though not the only one. The league suspended Ridley for the entire 2022 season after learning he bet on NFL games the year before, including his own Atlanta Falcons' games.

Ridley was away from the team at the time, so he didn't have any influence on results, but the league still suspended him for a year. Ten players were suspended last season for violations ranging from betting on NFL games to placing other sports bets from team facilities or other illegal locations.

Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle: Commissioner Bowie Kuhn banned Mays in 1980 and Mantle in 1983 for taking jobs as casino greeters in Atlantic City. The decision was rather arbitrary, as New Jersey didn't have sports betting yet at the time. The Hall of Fame center fielders were reinstated in 1985.

Alex Karras and Paul Hornung: In 1963, the NFL wanted Karras, a star defensive tackle for the Lions, to sell his interest in a bar that reportedly had a strong organized crime influence, including gambling. In the course of an investigation, Karras admitted to betting on NFL games, including on his own team to win. That was also the case with Green Bay Packers star and 1961 MVP Paul Hornung. Both stars were suspended for one season before being reinstated in 1964.

Karras sold his bar before he was reinstated, and stayed on the straight and narrow path with wagering. He once refused to call a pregame coin toss, telling the official, "I'm sorry, sir. I'm not permitted to gamble."

Frank Filchock and Merle Hapes: In 1946, two New York Giants were approached by gamblers to throw the NFL championship game against the Chicago Bears. When they failed to report the attempt, NFL commissioner Bert Bell suspended fullback Hapes from the game but let quarterback Filchock play. Filchock suffered a broken nose in the game, throwing two touchdown passes and six interceptions in a 24-14 loss.

The scandal directly let to the NFL adopting the practice of filing injury reports before games, to prevent gamblers from taking advantage of inside information. Ironically, three of the most prominent NFL owners of the time, whose families still own franchises, made fortunes through gambling. Art Rooney reportedly bought the Pittsburgh Steelers with racetrack winnings and ran illegal gambling operations in Pittsburgh for decades. New York Giants owner Tim Mara was a bookmaker who served as Rooney's legal bookie, and Cardinals owner Charles Bidwell was a racetrack owner and business associate of Al Capone.

All three men are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.