Illegal bets in the Dominican Republic come under scrutiny

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Baseball and betting go hand in hand in the Dominican Republic, where professional athletes, musicians and even legislators publicly announce their bets.

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But officials say for every legal bet in the Caribbean country, there are countless illegal ones.

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It's a widespread, multimillion-dollar industry that came under scrutiny after US federal authorities charged Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz. They are accused of accepting bribes from unnamed sports bettors in the Dominican Republic to place certain bets and help those bettors win at least $460,000, according to an indictment unsealed Sunday in New York. Ortiz and Claeys have pleaded not guilty.

The allegations have alarmed and confused many in the players' home country.

“The case of Emmanuel Claes and Luis Ortiz tarnishes the image of Dominican baseball players,” said Jose de los Santos, a fan of the Dominican Baseball League and Major League Baseball. “Actions like these have attracted the attention of Dominican and Latin American players.”

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There are 3,500 bookmakers registered in the Dominican Republic, and these are only legal ones.

Sportsbooks are widespread in the Dominican Republic, a country of more than 11 million people where baseball is king.

According to the Dominican Association of Sports Bookmakers, there are about 3,500 registered businesses here and countless illegal ones.

Kiko Tabar, the head of the country's national lottery, tasked by the president with regulating gambling, recently said in a public letter that officials had been working to regulate bookmakers for years but that “circumstances beyond our control” had prevented it from happening. He didn't specify.

For Raymond Jimenez, a self-described avid sports gambler, it's all the same.

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He said he chooses the largest and closest businesses that allow large bets, regardless of whether they are legal or not.

“I don’t know of any illegal bookmakers,” he said.

Jimenez said most betting in the Dominican Republic is focused on sports, including MLB, NBA and NFL games.

“I’ve been gambling since 1998 when I was underage,” Jimenez said. “At 14, I jumped over the school fence to go to the bookmakers. I heard everything from athletes selling themselves to gamblers to those betting against them.”

Gambling persists amid corruption

Dominican Republic lawmakers are discussing a bill that would create a new body to regulate and oversee gambling and set penalties for non-compliance.

Meanwhile, talk of the cases of Claz and Ortiz continues to dominate the news and social media, as does the case of Oscar Chalas, a former director of casinos and gaming in the Dominican Republic. In late October, he reached a plea deal with prosecutors and admitted responsibility for collecting money from illegal bookmakers to allow them to continue operating.

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Chalas told the judge that each illegal store paid up to $100 a month, but he didn't remember the total amount because there were “so many.” He also said the former finance minister knew and approved of the scheme, according to local media reports.

The pace of legal and illegal gambling is only expected to increase as local teams and fans prepare for the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League finals early next year.

One of the country's most famous public bets involving a local league took place earlier this year. Hall of Famer and former Red Sox star David Ortiz offered fans a 1 million pesos ($16,000) bet on social media for the team to win the championship. He ended up with 15 million pesos ($240,000) at stake. This included a 2 million pesos ($32,000) bet with Dominican city singer Bulin 47, but Ortiz forgave him after winning: “You are kind to the poor,” he wrote.

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