Major League Baseball on Tuesday announced Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano will receive a lifetime ban from baseball after it came to light that he was betting on the sport.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Marcano placed 231 MLB-related wagers and won just 4.3 percent of them.
It’s unclear if there were additional players or people involved, but the lifetime ban is a clear sign that despite sports betting’s rise into the mainstream the league won’t tolerate its players betting on the game.
This is in line with how baseball has handled these situations in the past, and how other sports more recently have acted. The NBA gave Jontay Porter of the Toronto Raptors a lifetime ban for placing bets on basketball earlier this year.
Marcano, 24, had yet to play this season after tearing his ACL last season with the Pirates. He played in 149 Major League games during his career after debuting with the Padres in the 2021 season. Marcano spent the last two years in Pittsburgh, but was claimed off waivers by the Padres this offseason. He hit .217 as a pro with five home runs. In nine games against the Dodgers he hit .304 with two home runs.
