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Retired CFL Champ Suspended Indefinitely for Wagering on Games in Which He Played
A gambling investigation in yet another North American sports league has resulted in a suspension.
Retired CFL defensive lineman Shawn Lemon has been banned indefinitely from competition after an inquest found he bet on league games in 2021, the league announced Wednesday afternoon.
“The integrity of our game is of the utmost importance. Any other factors... hold no weight when the legitimacy of the CFL can be called into question,” CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said in a league release.
Lemon, an Akron product, most recently played for the Montreal Alouettes in 2023. Per the CFL, Lemon bet on games—including one in which he participated—in '21 with the Calgary Stampeders.
After winning the Grey Cup in Nov. '23 with the Alouettes, Lemon retired on April 10. He concluded his career having played for eight of the CFL's nine teams.
The ban comes a week after forward Jontay Porter of the Toronto Raptors received a lifetime suspension for betting on NBA games.
Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .