PITTSBURGH — Pardon me if I am confused about Major League Baseball’s stance on gambling.
I tune into games on MLB Network and see gambling odds, up to the minute, sponsored by a prominent online gambling site flashing on the screen every half-inning or so.
I see the same online gambling site posting odds on the ticker at the bottom of the screen and even up-to-the-minute live odds for the games I am not watching. I see advertising in ballparks for online gambling sites, not to mention commercials for games.
If you go to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs, you can wager right in the stadium at a DraftKings Sportsbook. If you go to Citi Field to watch the Mets, you can wager in the stadium at the Caesars Sportsbook at Metro Grille.
Want to catch a Guardians game at Progressive Field? Yep, you can bet at the Fanatics Sportsbook there. Caesars has a sportsbook at Chase Field where the Diamondbacks play, and BetMGM has a sportsbook at Nationals Park, too.
I know people love to gamble. Gambling is ingrained in American society, and I have been known to throw a few bucks on a game from time to time. It is what the public wants, and the explosion of online gambling and even brick-and-mortar sportsbooks has taken the industry to an entirely different level.
Betting on sports has never been easier and it has never been more accessible. It also has never been more lucrative, which is why everyone from local and state governments to sports leagues and many in between want a piece of the action.
I write all of that as the backdrop to Major League Baseball announcing the lifetime ban of former Pirates and current Padres player Tucupita Marcano because he not only bet on baseball, but he bet on his own team.
Athletics pitcher Michael Kelly also was suspended for one year on Tuesday for betting on baseball while he was in the minor leagues. In addition, three minor leaguers — Jay Groome of San Diego, Jose Rodriguez of Philadelphia and Andrew Saalfrank of Arizona — were banned for one year for betting on major-league games.
Major League Baseball was apparently tipped off by a legal sports betting operator to the activity that led to the bans. That is probably the best development with the onslaught of legal sports betting for sports leagues, as legal betting operators can track unusual activity and get out in front of this kind of stuff.
The thing is if Major League Baseball really wanted to convince me it was concerned about its players gambling on games, it could start by refusing to be so far in bed with gambling sites.
My thoughts to all of these sports leagues — the NBA had a recent gambling situation that led to a lifetime ban, and the NFL has had several that have led to suspensions — are that they are getting what they deserve.
Don’t get it twisted — these players are 100% at fault and should be suspended. And looking at how bad they have all been at winning their bets, they have to be among the biggest dummies on the planet, as well. How can you have insider information and still lose as high of a percentage of your bets as Marcano did (somewhere north of 90%)?
I am not at all absolving the players for being so dumb to break rules that are clearly set for them with regards to gambling. I asked Pirates manager Derek Shelton about this during his weekly Tuesday radio show on 93.7 The Fan, and he said players are constantly reminded about these rules from spring training through the season.
In short, these players made their bed. They need to lie in it, and the rules are so clear and so clearly communicated that I have no sympathy for any of them. Marcano threw away a career in which he might have been able to make another $3 million-$5 million over the next few years to bet on sports. It is Idiocy 101.
But if Major League Baseball wanted to show how serious it is about the perils of sports betting, it should take two very clear steps: 1. Stop taking even a dime from any vendor associated with a sportsbook and 2. Prohibit all players, coaches and personnel from having any sportsbook apps downloaded on their phones.
