AGCO moves to suspend PointsBet

(PRESS RELEASE) -- In a first for Ontario’s regulated iGaming industry, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has issued a Notice of Proposed Order to suspend PointsBet Canada’s iGaming registration for a period of five days. The suspension is the result of PointsBet’s alleged systemic failure to properly monitor, detect, document and report suspicious betting patterns related to the 2024 bet-rigging scheme involving the National Basketball Association’s Jontay Porter, which has been the focus of a major criminal investigation in the United States.

In early 2024, after allegations of insider betting emerged involving Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter, the AGCO directed all Ontario-regulated sportsbooks to confirm whether they had offered bets on Porter and if they had detected and reported any suspicious betting activity. PointsBet, after significant delay, advised the AGCO it had not offered any such bets.

In October 2025, the public release of a U.S. Department of Justice indictment revealed the Porter case formed part of a broader insider betting scheme. The AGCO required all regulated operators to reconfirm whether any suspicious betting had occurred on Porter markets. In response to this further inquiry—eighteen months after its initial response—PointsBet acknowledged for the first time it had indeed offered betting on Porter in those games.

Upon obtaining and reviewing PointsBet’s wagering data, the AGCO confirmed the indications of suspicious betting that was central to the scheme uncovered in 2024. These wagers should have been detected and reported at the time the betting occurred.

Regulated iGaming operators act as a critical first line of defense in protecting the integrity of sport and Ontario’s sports betting market. They are required to diligently monitor, detect and immediately report unusual and suspicious betting activity on their sites that may be indicative of bet-rigging.The timely identification and reporting of such issues warn sports leagues, integrity monitors, regulators and law enforcement of potential integrity concerns. It also alerts gaming operators across the globe, which allows them to take necessary steps to protect their patrons from bets lacking integrity.

This is not the first time the AGCO has sanctioned PointsBet. In May 2022, the AGCO issued the operator a monetary penalty for advertising and inducement-related violations and in November 2023, another monetary penalty for violations of Ontario’s responsible gambling standards.

iGaming operators served with a notice of proposed order to suspend their registration have the right to appeal the AGCO’s action within 15 days to the License Appeal Tribunal (LAT), an adjudicative body that is part of Tribunals Ontario and independent of the AGCO.