Major League Baseball said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 and exclude them from parlays, a day after two Cleveland Guardians were indicted and accused of rigging pitches at the behest of gamblers. MLB said Monday the limits were agreed to by sportsbook operators representing more than 98% of the U.S. betting market. The league said in a statement that pitch-level bets on outcomes of pitch velocity and of balls and strikes “present heightened integrity risks because they focus on one-off events that can be determined by a single player and can be inconsequential to the outcome of the game.” “The risk on these pitch-level markets will be significantly mitigated by this new action targeted at the incentive to engage in misconduct,” the league said. “The creation of a strict bet limit on this type of bet, and the ban on parlaying them, reduces the payout for these markets and the ability to circumvent the new limit.”Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who last month called for a ban on the so-called prop bets in his state, applauded the league’s decision on Monday.”By limiting the ability to place large wagers on micro-prop bets, Major League Baseball is taking affirmative steps to protect the integrity of the game and reduce the incentives to participate in improper betting schemes,” DeWine said in a statement. “I urge other sports leagues to follow Major League Baseball’s example with similar action.”Prop bets have surged in popularity across the country in recent years. They allow bettors to wager on an individual player’s performance, often at a granular level. From the number of rebounds grabbed, yards thrown or balls and strikes pitched, bettors have access to a number of stats to put their money on. Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted Sunday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on charges they took bribes from sports bettors to throw certain types of pitches. They were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering conspiracy. The indictment says they helped two unnamed gamblers in the Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 on bets placed on the speed and outcome of certain pitches, including some that landed in the dirt. Ortiz’s lawyer, Chris Georgalis, said in a statement that his client was innocent and “has never, and would never, improperly influence a game — not for anyone and not for anything.” A lawyer for Clase, Michael J. Ferrara, said his client “has devoted his life to baseball and doing everything in his power to help his team win. Emmanuel is innocent of all charges and looks forward to clearing his name in court.”The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 ruled that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 was unconstitutional, allowing states to legalize sports betting. Since then, 39 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, have legalized some form of sports gambling. The industry’s best customers are young men. A Sienna College Research Institute poll earlier this year showed that almost half of men between 18 and 49 have an active online sports betting account. In theory, you have to be age 21 to place bets. In a statement, the president of sportsbook FanDuel said, “The legalized sports betting industry is built on a foundation of dialogue and collaboration with our league partners and the states in which we operate.””This initiative illustrates our unwavering commitment to building a legal and regulated market that roots out abuses by those who seek to undermine fair competition and damage the integrity of the games we love,” said Christian Genetski of FanDuel, whose company officially partners with MLB. Ortiz appeared in federal court in Boston on Monday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald L. Cabell granted Ortiz his release on the condition he surrender his passport, restrict his travel to the Northeast U.S. and post a $500,000 bond, $50,000 of it secured. Ortiz was ordered to avoid contact with anyone who could be viewed as a victim, witness or co-defendant.Last month, more than 30 people, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, were arrested for their alleged roles in a purported scheme for gamblers to use inside information.Billups’ attorney, Chris Heywood, issued a statement denying the allegations and Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, said in a statement that his client is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.”
