On Jontay Porter, the rise of sports betting, and toxic masculinity

The Jontay Porter situation was inevitable, it just coincidentally happened to a Raptors player first. The real question is larger: Is gambling causing the sports community to become more toxic?

CW: gambling, addiction, toxic masculinity.

Is the legalization and integration of sports betting into mainstream sports media leading to increased toxic masculinity in the sports community?

Okay, I understand this isn’t an undergrad liberal arts course, but hear me out for a second. It’s International Women’s Month, after all. As a woman in the sports space, I face toxic masculinity on the daily, and the sad part is that most of the time, the people perpetuating it don’t even realize what they are doing.

It’s the looks I get when I say I’m at the game as a member of the media, or the way male fans glare at me when they see the credential around my neck. It’s the way I get airdropped anonymous explicit pictures while I’m trying to cover an NBA game from my spot on the media row.

It’s the way I often have to spend double the time proving myself than my male counterparts just to feel worthy of the same opportunities.

But I can feel you asking: So what does sports betting have to do with that?

If you’re reading this and up to date on Toronto Raptors news, you probably know that Raptors two-way player Jontay Porter was pulled form the lineup prior to Monday night’s game against Brooklyn. He is reportedly being investigated by the NBA for suspicious activity surrounding his own prop bets.

Specifically, in two separate games, wagers were extremely high on Porter’s unders, with Porter leaving both games early due to injury/illness.

But even outside of this situation, every part of the sports experience has become completely saturated with gambling. Seemingly every broadcast has a betting segment, every podcast is sponsored by a sportsbook, and even the NBA is planning to integrate betting into league pass.

It’s not to say that every person who has ever placed a bet has a problem, but this could be a slippery slope from “let’s check out this cool new app being promoted during my basketball game” to a highly addictive and dangerous activity, at least for some people.

Plus, as if sports didn’t have a toxic masculinity problem to begin with, it seems the integration of sports betting into mainstream sports and their media coverage is perpetuating the problem further. It’s how men are asserting their dominance these days in sports spaces.

Now, obviously not every sports fan has leaned into this rise of sports gambling. There seems to be divide among fans on whether or not this cultural shift is good or bad. Yet, a few bad eggs seem to ruin the fun for everyone else.

When I cover games in person, it’s almost a 100% guarantee that I will hear some fan around us yelling at a player when they miss a shot because it messes with their parlay. Fans have started commenting on players’ social media profiles, getting mad at them when their stats cause those fans to lose out on money.

Despite the fact that gambling can become a dangerous addiction, these companies are still relentlessly shoving it down consumers’ throats, with little to no regulations to protect people from danger. With little education on the dangers of gambling. With such an ease of accessibility that almost anyone can do it from their smartphone.

Now, it’s common knowledge that women are rising in the sports betting space, with the number of women signing up for online sportsbooks in the past few years growing at a rate faster than men. Yet, women have been proven to (most of the time) be less risk-averse financially.

In a 2008 study published in the Journal of Economic Psychology, it was determined that those who identify more masculine (regardless of biological sex) were more likely to be more risky when it came to financial decisions. In a 2016 study published in Addiction Research and Theory, it was found that sports gambling poses a particular risk to young men because they feel the pressure to fit in with their peers by participating. It was less of a financial decision and more of a socialization tool.

The same study labeled sports wagering as a “health risk” for men, due to its integration into mainstream sports and the aggressive marketing aimed toward them.

A 2018 study connected sports gambling success in men with social capital, “by virtue of analytic skill, risk-taking and boisterous, competitive social interactions.” Basically, the more successful you were when it came to gambling, the more smart and cool you seemed to your buddies… even with no education in finance.

A lot of NBA fans disagree with the integration of sports betting into media for the above reasons, but how does toxic masculinity fit into it? Other than angry drunk fans at games, of course.

The thing that struck me most from the Porter situation was the knowledge that he has confirmed he runs a social media account dedicated to giving others financial advice and betting tips. There’s been a rise of male financial “experts” giving free (or not free) financial advice online. Anyone can make a TikTok account or Discord server labelling themselves a financial guru. It goes back to the above study that suggested success in gambling = intelligence.

These men thrive on the idea that they are all-knowing experts who have “hacked the system,” finding quick and easy ways to garner “free” income. It seems less about the money itself and more about saying “hey, I’m the smartest person here because I outsmarted the system.”

This kinda feels like the vibe in this current situation. My internet research found that Porter played one season at the University of Missouri, and sat another out injured, before declaring for the NBA draft. There was no evidence of whether or not he ever graduated or what his major was, and it’s listed as “undecided” on his college profile. So… what education/training/expertise did he have to be able to charge people $50 to access his premium financial advice group?

What’s more disappointing — a 24-year-old charging people for financial advice, or the people trusting a 24-year-old with financial advice?

Sure, he’s a basketball player who ultimately has an increased knowledge of the game due to years of training, but it seems this discord group stems beyond simple props and over/unders. He appears to talk about the stock market, crypto, and things that go beyond a base knowledge of knowing the game of basketball really well.

The sad part, if the allegations are true, is the belief that he wouldn’t get caught. It’s screaming that he thought he could outsmart a few billion-dollar corporations, again “hacking the system.”

Are these young men so delusional about their own financial power that they think they are immune to consequences? It stems from this situation all the way down to the average male sports gambler who thinks they know enough about the system to win big every time.

When they do win, the confidence grows, and they start believing they are invincible. They place higher wagers. They want to assert their power.

When they lose, it can be even more dangerous. Especially to those closest to them in life, but also to the athletes they harass for being the cause to their financial downfall. We’ve seen it happen live in games, like when a fan yelled at Bradley Beal in 2023 because he “made him lose $1,300,” leading to a physical altercation.

With the rise of gambling becoming integral to sports, situations like this are only going to get more common. Sports are going to become even more exclusive to the casual fan, and to women who don’t share the interest in betting.

How much will be too much for these leagues? How many instances of this kind of behaviour will prove to them that these two industries need clear boundaries?

How toxic is this new gambling-heavy sports experience going to get before something is done to stop it?