PointsBet Ontario to Suspend Operations for 48 Hours

PointsBet Canada will suspend its online betting platform in Ontario for 48 hours under an agreement reached with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). The dates have not yet been set. The agreement settles the dispute over how the company handled bets linked to former NBA player Jontay Porter.

Porter received a lifetime ban from the NBA in 2024 for violating league rules and was later charged in the United States with a federal offense. The AGCO's review focused on whether PointsBet identified and reported unusual betting on Porter.

The company initially said it had not accepted bets from Porter. After the U.S. Department of Justice indictment was published, further review led it to acknowledge that it had accepted bets from him. The regulator stated that these bets should have been noticed and reported at the time.

The AGCO had initially proposed a five-day suspension of the company's iGaming licence. PointsBet objected to this proposal and requested a hearing before the Licence Appeal Tribunal. Under the agreement, an independent monitor will review the company's financial and operational condition, identified problems will be corrected, and the corrections will be independently verified.