Main League Baseball introduced on Tuesday that San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano has been given a lifetime ban for betting on baseball. He’s the primary energetic participant to be banned for all times in over a century, turning into the primary participant to earn that dishonor since former New York Giants outfielder Jimmy O’Connell in 1924.
Pete Rose, MLB’s all-time hits chief, agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation revealed that he positioned bets on the Cincinnati Reds whereas managing the staff.
In Marcano’s case, Main League Baseball discovered that he positioned 387 baseball bets for greater than $150,000 in October 2022 after which once more from final July by way of November. All the bets have been positioned by way of a authorized sports activities ebook.
Marcano was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates on the time the bets, and positioned a number of parlay bets on Pirates video games. He was injured on the time of these bets and there was no proof to recommend that recreation outcomes have been compromised.
Including insult to the lifetime ban is that Marcano was terrible at inserting bets. He misplaced each parlay wager involving the Pirates, and received simply 4.3% of his MLB-related bets.
He principally wager on the outcomes of video games and over/unders.
It’s one factor to throw away your profession by playing. It’s one thing else completely to throw it away and nonetheless lose virtually the entire bets.
Together with Marcano, 4 different gamers additionally acquired one-year suspensions for betting.
Oakland A’s pitcher Michael Kelly was given a one-year suspension for betting on video games whereas within the minor leagues, whereas three different minor leaguers (Jay Groome, Andrew Saalfrank and Jose Rodriguez) additionally acquired one-year suspensions for betting on main league video games whereas within the minors.
Marcano is the second skilled athlete to get a lifetime ban from their sport in current months for playing.
Toronto Raptors participant Jontay Porter was additionally given a lifetime ban from basketball for betting on NBA video games.
The legalization of sports activities betting in North America — and the best way it’s relentlessly marketed throughout video games — is barely going to result in extra incidents like this, and it’s value asking if conditions like Marcano and Porter are only a tip of the iceberg and a bigger scandal may be looming within the coming years. Even whether it is, the Pandora’s Field of sports activities playing is large open and there doesn’t appear to be something that’s going to stuff the demons again within it.
