I can't think of a better way to kick off a column in 2025 than to tell you that it's about the sports gambling scandal, and the biggest 2025 question you can ask in response is “Which one?”
When I tell you that he is the one who has led to criminal charges against current professional athletes, that still only narrows the field down to two. And if you didn't think that the massive legalization of sports betting, coupled with a slew of commercial partnerships between leagues and sportsbooks, would lead to exactly the same headlines we've seen in recent weeks, you probably haven't been paying enough attention to sports or gambling.
But yes, Emmanuel Claes and Luis Ortiz, relievers for the Cleveland Guardians, were indicted last Monday on charges related to questionable bets on props. Prosecutors allege that the pitchers conspired with players who bet that certain pitches would a) miss the strike zone and b) go below a certain velocity, and that everyone who profited and Claise and Ortiz intentionally threw errant pitches. The scheme netted gamblers and their betting friends more than $400,000, according to federal authorities.
All of these features matter—to a certain extent.
Because the bets in question focused on pitch location and speed, MLB and its “authorized gaming operators” will now limit bets on individual pitches to $200 and exclude individual pitches from parlays.
This solution achieves that specific goal, but misses the larger goal.
Parlays are still easy to lose because every single bet that makes them up must be correct in order to receive a payout. And betting on individual elements of the game, rather than the overall outcome, is still relatively easy to manipulate. Neither Claeys nor Ortiz themselves could control whether the Guardians would lose, win or cover the spread, but either of them could have unilaterally decided to throw a 55-foot ball on the curve rather than betting on a 99 mph shot that would have been in favor.
The bigger picture is just as grim. As long as gambling is normalized, accessible, and presented as a worthwhile habit and hobby, these scams will continue to happen. MLB's response was a half-measure that almost required more scandals.
Sports gambling has become more accessible than ever thanks to online bookmakers and betting apps. Now you can place bets with one touch. Check out Swipe. Bid. Repeat. on CBC Gem.
In an ideal sports business world, leagues would interpret successive gambling controversies—one each in the NBA, UFC and MLB—as a signal to reconsider their relationships with the gambling industry. One should always question whether leagues want to partner with sportsbooks or simply serve as gaming equipment, even if it risks compromising the integrity of the gaming product.
But in the flawed sports business landscape we live in, we can only watch as leagues and teams follow the money, even if it leads to questionable places.
Why?
Because it's a big income.
According to Global Data, MLB's sports gaming partnerships generate $70 million annually, while the NFL receives about $80 million annually from DraftKings and FanDuel.
That's more than enough incentive to deepen the relationship between sports leagues and gambling if that money comes from a neutral source. But when you consider that the casino wins because the players lose, and that a disproportionate amount of gaming dollars come from people. who can't afford to part with this moneyrecalibrating relationships makes sense.
After all, gambling is highly addictive by default and can be easily alleviated thanks to mobile phones and their countless gaming apps. This easy access sets it apart from other activities that can develop into life-damaging habits. You can't get liquor from your phone, and your dealer can't text you about your drug of choice. It used to be that you had to go somewhere to lose your mortgage money by playing poker; now you carry entire casinos in your pocket, plural.
WATCH | MLB will limit betting at the field level:
According to 2022 study According to Statistics Canada, nearly two-thirds of Canadians over the age of 15 reported gambling in the past year, and more than 300,000 people were at risk of problem gambling.
Sports betting did not cause all of these problems, but the widespread adoption of betting has spread the habit to new places and to new people.
At one level there are active athletes promoting gambling applications. Conor McDavid. Andre de Grasse. LeBron James. All of them support gaming platforms. Another category in the portfolio of a sports star. Shoes, sunglasses, nutritional supplements, gambling addictions that can ruin your credit, and more.
And on another level, there is a pervasive and persistent message that gambling is a legitimate way to express one's sporting passion, and people with the money and emotional makeup can bet responsibly, within a predetermined budget, all the time.
But if you want to watch the game without being sold a highly addictive product, sports fandom is difficult these days. A CBC Marketplace investigation found that the average NBA broadcast contains 2.8 gambling advertisements per minute.
The numbers also signal shifting priorities among leagues, teams and sponsors.
Creating value for commercial partners through viewer engagement is nothing new. This is why sponsorships exist and why advertisers love live sports. And if the programs were addressed to children, then they were focused on their future, both fans and athletes. This is why we often hear color commentators imploring the “young players watching at home” to pay attention to Player A's footwork or Player B's jump shot.
But now it's less about investing in long-term team loyalty and more about collecting revenue upfront from gaming partners while bombarding adults and kids with betting content. Some percentage of the young people watching will still grow up to become athletes, but this setup also seems designed to develop future players – which means we'll see more schemes that end in suspensions and criminal charges.
Because if the professional sports talent pool includes more people who accept gambling as the norm, more players are likely to enter it, which is likely to lead to more gambling debts, making athletes an easy target for manipulators in the betting market. These circumstances, we later learned, helped former Raptor Jontay Porter lose on purpose, which landed him in trouble.
This is one reality.
Another?
If you work in the sports or sports media industry, you make money from gambling.
Perhaps a bookmaker sponsors your podcast, or supports your pre-game TV segment, or partners with The Athletic, a sports website owned by New York Times.
As for me?
When I'm not here, I cover boxing that happens in casinos where people lose money and call it entertainment.
So we're all at least ankle-deep in sports gambling and wondering if the next scandal will cause the waters to recede.
Maybe.
But I wouldn't bet on it.
*This column has nothing to do with bookmakers.
*More.
