The league said Porter, who spent part of his time in the NBA and part of it in its developmental G League, privately told a sports bettor he was injured, removed himself from a game to control prop bets on his own play, and placed his own wagers on NBA games.

According to the results of a league investigation, Porter, 24, gave a confidential tip about his health to a person he knew to be a sports bettor before the Raptors' game on March 20 against the Sacramento Kings. A third individual, connected to both Porter and the original recipient of Porter's health information, placed an $80,000 parlay bet to win $1.1 million, a wager that hinged on the prediction that Porter would underperform against the Kings.

Gambling has now been mainstreamed by American professional sports in the way it's been in Europe for decades. But incidents like this seem inevitable in our have-it-all-now culture. And heaven forbid a prominent athlete becomes indebted in legal gambling to the point Porter reached above.

It's really going to be up to the gaming industry to be the vigilance police as they were in this incident. If it hadn't been for the open publication of betting results (the day's total payouts on the Porter parley bets were the highest on any parley offered that night) no one but for the book and the bet placer would have known what was happening.