So when San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano was asked this week how he felt about being banned for life for his involvement in baseball betting last season while with the Pittsburgh Pirates, his answer was informed and candid.
“to be honest, [The betting] “It was stupid,” Martinez said. “It’s reprehensible. It always has been. In spring training, they have meetings. Every now and then, someone comes in from MLB to tell you that betting on baseball is prohibited. It’s not. Why would you do that? Why would you bet?”
Behind him, in a press conference room in the basement of Nationals Park, dozens of BetMGM ads dotted the monitors, flashing a satire of MLB’s current state on camera. While MLB’s message to players has always been clear when it comes to wagering on games, embracing a legal sports betting partner and the money that comes with it not only clouds morality, it also paints a path to temptation in clubhouses across the country.
Since the Supreme Court ruling in 2018, Murphy v. NCAA As states have allowed sports betting to become legal, MLB, like many other professional sports leagues, has welcomed the influx of money and attention that gambling brings to the sport.
Sportsbooks have sprung up not just around major league ballparks, but inside them too. Online betting companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel are sponsoring live games and putting betting odds on TV screens. Struggling Diamond Sports, formerly owned by Sinclair, which has deals with 12 MLB teams, has agreed to replace its broadcast naming rights partner, Bally Sports, with FanDuel starting next year, according to a person familiar with the deal.
Meanwhile, in the past three months, MLB has been through two of its biggest gambling scandals in more than three decades, one that cost it one of its brightest and most important stars. Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, faces possible prison time after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $16 million from Ohtani to pay off huge gambling debts. MLB has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing against Ohtani, and Mizuhara has not been charged with betting on baseball. But MLB knows all too well that closing cracks in trust requires much more effort than creating them.
“Strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies regulating gambling activity is an essential component of maintaining our overriding objective of protecting the fairness of the game for our fans,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement this week. “Prohibiting sports officials from betting on Major League Baseball games has been a fundamental principle for more than a century. We have been clear that the privilege of playing baseball comes with a responsibility to refrain from certain activities that are legal for others.”
Indeed, players and coaches said this week that despite new deals with sports betting partners, MLB has made it clearer than ever to players about the importance of not betting on baseball.
There are posters on the walls of every home and visiting clubhouse — one in English, one in Spanish — that not only tell players not to bet on baseball, but also have a giant QR code they can scan to learn more about why. The gambling policy is posted, word for word, on the walls of every clubhouse. Major and minor league players alike attend endless spring training to learn the rules of baseball gambling and to hold MLB firmly accountable. Everyone knows the rules of baseball gambling, so there are no excuses for those who break them.
“Just recently, we’ve had to take online courses. The players understand. We have signs posted all over the clubhouse,” New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “… It’s unfortunate to have someone like this pass away, but I think MLB will continue to make an effort to keep everybody informed and educated.”
It’s important to note that these efforts are by no means intended to completely remove gambling from Clubhouse. High-stakes March Madness pools, with entry fees running into the thousands, are an annual tradition. Fantasy football leagues dominate Clubhouse conversations by mid-September. Players are allowed to bet on every sport except baseball, and many do. Increased access to betting apps on smartphones, and more advertising for those apps, doesn’t mean players are going to ignore common sense.
“They’re a lot more adamant about it now. In spring training meetings, it’s like, ‘OK, you can’t gamble in baseball,'” Nationals outfielder Joey Gallo said. “It’s definitely gotten stricter because gambling is so prevalent everywhere. It’s in front of you all the time now. They’re definitely aware of that and are pushing it even further.”
Still, as the suspensions handed down to Marcano and four others this week demonstrated, knowing the rules doesn’t necessarily mean following them. MLB has tried to take that into account, too: One of MLB’s partners tipped off MLB that suspended players had placed bets.
An MLB spokesman said the sports betting and compliance group maintains relationships with regulators across the country and with more than 20 affiliated sportsbooks, which are required to notify MLB of any suspicious activity. MLB also employs two third-party integrity monitoring companies, U.S. Integrity and Sportradar, which monitor the betting market and flag suspicious activity.
But players aren’t the only ones in major league clubhouses who have access to information that can help them and others win bets: Coaches, official scorers, umpires and even trainers have the power to influence the outcome, too.
“If you look at Ohtani and Mizuhara, you realize there are a lot of people who have access to the locker room and to the players – translators, agents, personal trainers,” said Stan Brand, vice president of minor league baseball, who said he has long worried that minor league players’ low salaries could tempt them to gamble on baseball. “They’re all vulnerable to inside information that could be used to handicap bets. That’s a big weakness in baseball.”
An MLB spokesman said all major and minor league umpires receive annual training on gambling rules, either in person or via Zoom, and other non-player league and club personnel receive training on the subject when they are hired and periodically thereafter. Multiple clubhouse staff members — “club personnel” who are hired to have discretion over players’ personal matters — said the importance of staying away from baseball gambling and gamblers was a non-negotiable rule passed down to them upon their hiring.
Television and radio announcers, who are often employed by teams or broadcasting companies, don’t receive training as regularly, but some say they don’t like reading gambling ads and tell their colleagues. Last year, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America sent a letter to all members reminding them of best practices after one of its members asked for information about awards voting. The circle around the clubhouse is not small, and everyone is aware that MLB is walking a tightrope trying to keep the game fair at a time when gambling is a threat closer than ever.
“You watch ESPN and you see we were behind and we weren’t supposed to score eight points,” Gallo said. “Yesterday [the Mets’] Pete Alonso and I are sitting here [somebody on] “They’re on TV and they’re saying, ‘Pete Alonso is going to hit a home run today. Let’s bet on him.’ And I’m like, ‘What the heck?’ It’s a weird feeling. And I’m going to be in that game.”
Ben Strauss and Gus Garcia Roberts contributed to this report.
