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MLB bans Tucupita Marcano for life after gambling probe; 4 other players get one-year suspensions

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Major League Baseball on Tuesday banned infielder Tucupita Marcano for life after he placed bets on games involving his team and issued one-year bans to four other players who bet on MLB games, in a pivotal moment for the league’s simultaneous embrace and policing of legalized sports betting.

Marcano, 24, bet more than $150,000 on baseball in two significant periods between October 2022 and November 2023, and placed 25 bets on games involving the Pittsburgh Pirates after he suffered a season-ending knee injury in a July 2023 game.

Marcano, a career .217 hitter in 149 career games, was placed on waivers by the Pirates in November and claimed by the San Diego Padres. He has not appeared in a Padres game this season as he recovers from knee surgery.

Four more players, including Andrew Saalfrank, a member of the National League pennant-winning Arizona Diamondbacks, received one-year bans for betting on MLB games, occurring in a period spanning July 2020 and July 2022. None of the players appealed the rulings, MLB said.

Jay Groome, a former top Red Sox prospect now in the Padres system, placed 24 of his 32 bets on the Red Sox while he was in their minor league system.

Oakland Athletics pitcher Michael Kelly, who has appeared in 46 major league games for Cleveland, Philadelphia and the A’s since 2022, placed 10 bets on MLB games in October 2021 when he was a member of the Astros organization.

 Phillies minor league infielder Jose Rodriguez placed three bets on college baseball games and 28 bets on MLB games on Sept. 30, 2021 and between June 5 and June 30, 2022, when he was in the White Sox organization.

And Saalfrank, who did not give up an earned run in 10 appearances for the Diamondbacks in 2023, placed 28 bets on MLB games and one college baseball parlay in September and October 2021, and on March 9, 2022. He was in Arizona’s minor league system at the time.

But the most startling finding by MLB’s Department of Investigations – working in collaboration with MLB’s betting partners, the league said – involved Marcano.

He bet $87,319 on MLB games, averaging $378 per bet, largely parlays or multi-sport parlays in which an MLB game was a leg of the bet. His longest period of betting occurred between July 12 and Nov. 1, 2023; he suffered his season-ending knee injury on July 24, 2023.

MLB reports that Marcano lost all of his bets involving the Pirates, and lost 95.7% of his bets involving MLB games.

“There is no evidence to suggest — and Marcano denies — that any outcomes in the baseball games on which he placed bets were compromised, influenced, or manipulated in any way,” MLB said in its statement.

MLB’s permanently ineligible list dates to the 19th century, when players were banned for game-fixing and other improprieties. Most notably, eight players from the Chicago White Sox were banned in 1921 after MLB ruled they conspired to fix the 1919 World Series.

And all-time hits leader Pete Rose remains banned for life after he gambled on Cincinnati Reds games that he managed.

Yet after the widespread acceptance of legalized sports gambling following a 2018 Supreme Court decision – it’s now legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia – the calculus has significantly changed. It leaves MLB in a position to welcome the revenue of online sports books – it has official partnerships with FanDuel, DraftKings and MGM – while aiming to maintain the integrity of its games.

MLB said its investigation included “interviews, thorough review of the available information in each matter, and significant cooperation from MLB’s legal sportsbook partners.”

The investigation began in March, when MLB said it learned “from a legal sportsbook operator” that that it had “identified past baseball betting activity from accounts connected to multiple Major and Minor League players.  MLB obtained data from that operator and other sportsbooks, including authentication data for bets.  None of these players played in any game on which they placed a bet.

“Further, all of the players denied that they had any inside information relevant to the bets or that any of the baseball games they bet on were compromised or manipulated, and the betting data does not suggest that any outcomes in the baseball games on which they placed bets were compromised, influenced, or manipulated in any way.”

The players were in violation of MLB’s Rule 21, which states players face a one-year ban for betting on baseball and a lifetime ban for betting on games involving their team. Players may wager legally on other sports but cannot place bets with a bookmaker.

Perhaps coincidentally, this probe coincided with the March firing of Ippei Mizuhara, two-way star Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mizuhara has since struck a plea deal with prosecutors after he was alleged to have stolen $17 million from Ohtani to fund his gambling addiction.

“The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies governing gambling conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “ The longstanding prohibition against betting on Major League Baseball games by those in the sport has been a bedrock principle for over a century.  We have been clear that the privilege of playing in baseball comes with a responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain types of behavior that are legal for other people.

“Since the Supreme Court decision opened the door to legalized sports betting, we have worked with licensed sports betting operators and other third parties to put ourselves in a better position from an integrity perspective through the transparency that a regulated sports betting system can provide.  MLB will continue to invest heavily in integrity monitoring, educational programming and awareness initiatives with the goal of ensuring strict adherence to this fundamental rule of our game.”

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