TORONTO — Prop bets can be eliminated, Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark said on Friday, one day after basketball was rocked by a federal betting probe. Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were among those arrested in an FBI investigation into sports gambling.
“We’re in support of removing any types of bets, props or otherwise, that can create issues for our guys on the field,” Clark said before Game 1 of the World Series at Rogers Centre, where an advertisement for a sportsbook and casino sits over the visitor’s bullpen. “We’ve heard a lot about prop bets of late and it is one of the things we were concerned about from day one as well.”
Prop bets are bets on a player-specific outcome — whether a game’s starting pitcher will strike out more than five batters, for example — and are far more easily manipulated than bets on a game’s result.
MLB is no stranger to gambling scandals. Two Cleveland Guardians pitchers, Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, have been under league investigation since July after an Ohio gaming commission flagged suspicious betting activity on prop bets. MLB this year fired umpire Pat Hoberg for gambling-related violations, and in a separate affair last year, banned San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano for life.
“Every time there’s a situation that arises related to gambling, the concern doesn’t lessen,” Clark said. “It gets greater.”
The concerns extend beyond the integrity of competition. Players and their families are sometimes threatened by gamblers who are disappointed in a given performance. During this season alone, Lance McCullers Jr. of the Houston Astros and Liam Hendriks of the Boston Red Sox have raised concerns based on their own experiences.
Yet, through the union, players also financially benefit from licensing deals with gambling companies (The Athletic has a partnership with sportsbook BetMGM). How does Clark reconcile the dangers of sports betting with players’ financial gains?
“We balance the two,” Clark said. “At the point in time that player safety is a concern across the board, such that we’re not able to protect our players, then the conversation I would anticipate having with our own guys is, ‘What do we want to do about that? And what does that mean, in the grand scheme of things?’ We haven’t reached that point yet.
“At the point in time, health and safety is jeopardized — that’s where that line is for me.”