Major League Baseball has a scandal featuring its biggest star at the forefront of the 2024 season. Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara are under investigation and have created the biggest baseball gambling story since Pete Rose.
With this story at the top of baseball’s headlines, some questions have been raised about the league’s rules on gambling and where the line is drawn for players and team employees.
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Can MLB players bet? The answer is complicated and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic answers this question and more in his story on Friday. According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, players can’t bet on baseball. They cannot bet on MLB games, minor league games, youth games, high school games, college games, or international games. If it involves baseball at all, they cannot bet on it. That also includes fantasy baseball or any daily fantasy baseball game that includes a cash prize. They are also discouraged from betting on softball because the games are too similar.
This also goes for team employees. They can’t bet on baseball, period. Rule 21(d)(1) says that any league or team official or employee will be declared ineligible for a year if they bet anything on a baseball game in which they are not involved — or more formally, in “which the bettor has a duty to perform.” Rule 21(d)(2) says that those same employees or officials will be banned for life if they bet on a baseball game in which they are involved.
However, players can bet on other sports. For example, they can participate in March Madness pools and fantasy football leagues. They can bet on the English Premier League, the NBA, or NASCAR, as long as it is legal under state law.
Here is what the CBA says:
“Major League Players may place legal bets on sporting events other than Baseball Games and Baseball Events in jurisdictions in which such bets are legal, provided that the person placing the bet is eligible under applicable law to place the wager. Similarly, Major League Players may participate in legal fantasy games relating to sports other than baseball for prizes or other things of value.”
Players and team employees are absolutely, not allowed to place bets with bookies. It doesn’t what sport, they can’t make “illegal bets on any sport or event, including bets placed with illegal bookmakers or illegal off-shore sports betting websites or applications.” Rule 21(d)(3) says the following about team employees and bookies: “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee who places bets with illegal bookmakers, or agents for illegal book makers, shall be subject to such penalty as the Commissioner deems appropriate.”
If any players or team employees are confused about the rules, Major League Baseball hangs that one in every clubhouse.
There have been a few incidents in the past few years involving players and gambling. Jarred Cosart was fined nine years ago for betting on other sports with an illegal bookie. Peter Bayer was suspended in 2021 for betting on baseball. He was a career minor-leaguer who placed more than 100 wagers on baseball with a legal sportsbook but betting on baseball as a player is a hard no.
In the case of Mizuhara, sports gambling is illegal in the state of California. He has claimed to have not bet on baseball but regardless, he placed bets with an illegal bookmaker and that is what triggered the entire investigation.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.