TORONTO \u2014 In the wake of the NBA\u2019s betting scandal, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred defended his league\u2019s business arrangements with gambling companies as a necessary tool to catch wrongdoers.<\/p>\n
MLB, like all major sports leagues, has both profited from and helped to popularize sports betting since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision made wagers legal throughout most of the country. But prior to Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night at Rogers Centre, Manfred positioned MLB as a league that has adapted to what was foisted upon it, as opposed to a force that has helped to shape the landscape.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you\u2019re in that environment where sports betting is happening, the crucial issue is access to data,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cThat means you have to have a relationship with the sportsbooks. Like most relationships, if you want something from them, you need to give something back to them, and that\u2019s where those relationships come from.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t ask to have legalized sports betting. It kind of came, and that\u2019s the environment in which we operate now. We don\u2019t have a lot of choice about that. And if it\u2019s going to change, broadly change \u2026 probably the only way it would happen is (through) the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Manfred refers to data, he means the ability for legalized betting companies to track the wagering of every person on their sites, and to see when there are unusual betting spikes around certain moments in games. With illegal bookmakers, both of those are a black box. MLB barred one player for life and suspended several others in the past few years after their legal wagers came to light; MLB is currently investigating Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz after unusual betting activity was reported during their outings.<\/p>\n
Sports leagues aren\u2019t the only beneficiaries of the rise of sports betting. The Athletic has a partnership with the sportsbook BetMGM.<\/p>\n
Tony Clark, the head of the baseball players\u2019 union, said a day earlier he\u2019s in favor of eliminating prop bets<\/a>. Manfred, however, declined to give his position on those wagers, saying only that MLB is talking about prop bets \u201cwith a variety of people\u201d and that he wouldn\u2019t disclose them.<\/p>\n Prop bets are tied to specific outcomes in a given event and have been at the heart of several recent scandals. Whether a baseball player will tally four hits on a given night is one example of a prop bet, and because they pertain to a small subset of events inside a game, they\u2019re easier targets for someone interested in fixing an outcome.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are and have been really vigilant on the issues surrounding legalized sports betting,\u201d Manfred said generally. \u201cObviously, our No. 1 priority is to protect the integrity of the game. We think we have great systems in place that allow us to do that. In addition, we\u2019ve worked really hard to provide resources to players to make sure that they are comfortable and have an outlet when they have a problem with respect to issues related to sports betting.\u201d<\/p>\n