Sports integrity body sees Porter case as warning

Canada's sports integrity watchdog is pushing for stronger policies to prevent competitive manipulation and match-fixing at all levels of competition.

Canada’s sports integrity watchdog is pushing for stronger policies to prevent competitive manipulation and match-fixing at all levels of competition.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport issued its first draft of a new program to prevent competition manipulation on Wednesday, the same day that the NBA banned former Toronto Raptors backup centre Jontay Porter for his role in betting irregularities around his on-court performance. Jeremy Luke, the CEO of the sport integrity body, said he hopes Porter’s case is a wake-up call to Canadians.

“People are becoming more aware of this risk, or at least aware of this risk now,” said Luke on Thursday. “It’s really important that we put in place mechanisms to prevent, or at least to mitigate, the risk as much as we possibly can.”

The NBA found that Porter violated its rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on league games. Luke said that Porter’s strong punishment wasn’t surprising.

“I thought (the NBA) needed to take significant action in this particular case, but I wasn’t also surprised with the situation itself,” said Luke. “The legalization of single event sport betting and the proliferation of advertising certainly increases the risk for competition manipulation.”

The CCES held symposiums on the dangers of competition manipulation and match-fixing in 2019 and 2023, issuing white papers after each one that called for stronger federal policies around sports betting. The 2019 report was issued before Canada legalized sports betting and the 2023 file built on those original findings.

The Canadian Program to Prevent Competition Manipulation draft issued this week was co-authored by CCES and the Canadian Olympic Committee, with a working group that included national sports organizations for badminton, basketball, cross-country skiing, curling, hockey, racquetball, soccer, speedskating and squash, as well as Sports Canada and AthletesCAN.

The proposed national policy includes comprehensive educational programming targeted at athletes, coaches, and other participants. If adopted, it would empower CCES to administer the policy on behalf of any sport organizations that sign on.