The NBA’s lifetime banishment of Jontay Porter has led to the prosecution of multiple people who were allegedly squeezing Porter to exit games early.
Joining Long Phi “Bruce” Pham as criminal defendants are Timothy McCormack and Mahmud Mollah, via David Payne Purdum of ESPN.com.
Mollah is accused of betting $80,000 on Porter hitting the “under” on assists, rebounds, points, three-pointers, steals, and blocks for a March 20 game against the Sacramento Kings. Porter left early, and Mollah won $1.12 million.
The defendants allegedly leveraged Porter to leave games early in order to satisfy gambling debts.
Although it’s difficult for one player to influence the outcome of wagers on his team, player prop bets become a great way to rig the system. Fake an illness or injury, and the under pays.
As far as anyone knows, nothing like this has happened in the NFL. As far as anyone knows. It’s the kind of scandal that would potentially turn the NFL on its head.
