AGCO mulls suspension of PointsBet license for five days, citing failures to flag suspicious betting patterns

• AGCO is seeking to suspend PointsBet’s license for five days in Ontario, due to the Jontay Porter saga
• According to a note by the regulator, PointsBet did not flag suspicious betting patterns central to the Porter case
• PointsBet has 15 days to appeal the case and avoid the license suspension

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has said that it is seeking to impose a temporary suspension on PointsBet, which would see the company’s online gaming licence suspended for a suggested period of five days.

This was announced on AGCO’s official website on Thursday, with the regulator alleging that PointsBet may have failed to react promptly and provide information about suspicious betting activity linked to Jontay Porter, a former Toronto Raptors player, who was banned from the NBA for life.

Jontay Porter's scandal continues to affect sportsbooks

A case was launched against Porter in 2024, accusing him of leaking information to third parties and underperforming in games to influence betting outcomes. Porter has since pleaded guilty in a criminal fraud case following an NBA investigation.

In its statement, AGCO insisted that the suspicious betting patterns were central to uncovering the scheme, noting that it identified indications of such activity after inspecting wager data from PointsBet.

The regulator argued that PointsBet did not report wagers that were directly tied to the Porter case and that could have helped uncover the scheme earlier.

"These wagers should have been detected and reported at the time the betting occurred," the regulator added. AGCO also pointed out that all Ontario-regulated sportsbooks were asked in 2024 to provide information on whether they had offered bets on Porter, and alleged that PointsBet initially denied doing so before later disclosing that it had.

Before the suspension can be applied, PointsBet has 15 days to appeal.

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