To borrow a phrase from DJ Khaled: another one.
Yet another gambling-related incident for a sports governing body came to light Monday after the Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter,” reported Major League Baseball is looking into San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano for alleged violations of MLB's gambling policy.
According to the newspaper, the 24-year-old Marcano was accused of wagering on Pittsburgh Pirates games last season when he was on the team’s injured list.
If that’s the case, it could mean Marcano has broken baseball’s golden rule of wagering and may be hit with a lifetime ban, just as the legendary Pete Rose was after an investigation found he bet on Cincinnati Reds games while with the team.
In addition to Tucupita Marcano, there are at least four other players under investigation by MLB and facing discipline for betting on baseball: https://t.co/ywfmkPaOB5
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) June 3, 2024
The Journal reported the discipline for Marcano has yet to be finalized, as talks between the MLB and the players’ union are ongoing. However, the paper added that four other players face potential penalties for betting on baseball while still in the minors. There is no evidence at this point that the five fixed games, according to the WSJ report.
Betting in baseball is a particularly touchy subject given the game’s historical trouble with gambling, which includes Rose’s ban. But, like other professional sports leagues, MLB has a black-and-white policy prohibiting players from betting on games involving their team. A printed copy of MLB's Rule 21 is even supposed to be posted in both English and Spanish in each team clubhouse.
The rule bars, players, umpires, and team and league officials from betting on baseball in general, with the penalty for doing so a one-year suspension. It also states that any MLB player who wagers on any game they're involved in will be banned permanently.
But MLB, again, like other leagues, is finding recently that having rules against gambling is not stopping players from violating those policies in the age of widespread legal sports betting. The “Big Four” leagues have all imposed discipline on players since the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision that paved the way for legal wagering to expand in the country.
A rough year for MLB
That discipline is made all the more awkward given the business relationships leagues have formed with sportsbook operators since 2018, MLB included. So, as leagues are earning more revenue through the partnerships and the added advertising sports betting can help generate, they are also dealing with the headaches of players running afoul of gambling policies.
MLB is still dealing with the fallout from another gambling-related controversy from earlier this year. The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani agreed only last month to plead guilty to federal criminal charges in connection to debts owed to an illegal bookmaking operation.
Although that incident involves illegal betting, gambling-related controversies have prompted some sports governing bodies to reconsider what they think bettors should be legally wagering on.
Most notably, the NCAA has been lobbying state lawmakers to ban college player props over concerns about student-athlete harassment.
The NBA, meanwhile, is reportedly interested in tweaks to betting markets as well after former Toronto Raptor Jontay Porter was banned for gambling on league games, among other things.
