Ontario’s regulator has issued a Notice of Proposed Order seeking a five-day suspension of PointsBet Canada’s iGaming registration, citing what it describes as a serious failure to detect and report suspicious betting activity linked to the Jontay Porter betting scandal.
Reports describe the action as a major escalation in Ontario’s approach to sports integrity, because a suspension is an operational penalty that directly interrupts business, not just a financial hit.
What AGCO alleges PointsBet got wrong
According to coverage summarizing the regulator’s position, AGCO alleges a systemic failure to monitor and escalate suspicious wagering patterns tied to Porter player markets. The reporting also says PointsBet initially told AGCO it had not offered bets on Porter, then later acknowledged it had, after a long delay.
One detail that stands out in those reports is timing: AGCO is described as saying it did not receive the relevant information until roughly 18 months after it first requested records.
Why the Porter case hit a nerve
Porter was banned by the NBA in April 2024 and later pleaded guilty in a U.S. case tied to manipulation of his on-court performance to benefit betting outcomes, which put player prop markets under a harsher spotlight.
Ontario’s regulated model leans heavily on operators as the “front line” for integrity monitoring. That means staff training, alerting systems, record-keeping, and fast reporting are not optional features. They are core license expectations.
PointsBet response and the immediate process
PointsBet said, in a statement quoted by local reporting, that the issue stemmed from human error during an organizational transition, not an attempt to hide information, and it called the proposed suspension disproportionate.
Under the process described in coverage, PointsBet has 15 days to appeal to Ontario’s License Appeal Tribunal. Whatever happens next, Ontario operators are going to read this as a signal that slow integrity responses can carry real operational consequences.
