Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
BY J.A. SCHWARTZ
Opening Day has been a hallowed American tradition for more than 100 years. As the 2024 Major League Baseball season dawns on March 28th, the thoughts of a sports hungry nation naturally drift towards the exploits of the sport’s biggest stars. The phrase “hope springs eternal” should be bandied about, and the great litany of literary giants who chronicle the sport should wax poetic about the beauty of the game-it’s timeless geometry, the titillating promise of youth and the pure spectacle of baseballs being hurled at speeds upwards of 100 miles per hour.
If only the reality were quite that simple.
In the United States-and, for that matter, for countries around the world-the overarching topic of discussion about baseball centers around a concern as old as the game itself: gambling. The sport’s biggest and most popular star, Shohei Ohtani, has been connected to a situation centered around illegal sports betting, allegedly perpetrated by his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. Major League Baseball announced on March 22nd that they would be investigating the matter, and the worldwide legion of Ohtani fans have been holding their collective breath ever since. Could Ohtani have been the one betting on sports illegally? That question is at the heart of a scandal that figures to cast an immense shadow over the action on the field, and until there is some clarity regarding exactly what happened, any outcome remains in play.
There have been several accounts (often contradictory) of the exact nature of the situation, but it began when Ohtani’s name was unearthed in a federal investigation of bookmaker Mathew Bowyer. Apparently, payments totaling $4.5 million were made to Bowyer from an account in Ohtani’s name, ostensibly to help cover the massive debts incurred by Mizuhara. Mizuhara, who was fired as Ohtani’s interpreter immediately when the issue went public, initially stated that the payments were made with Ohtani’s consent (a fact initially confirmed by a spokesman for Ohtani to ESPN). Two days later, Ohtani’s lawyers issued a statement that indicated that “Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft.” A detailed timeline of the events as they unfolded is chronicled in an excellent article by ESPN reporter Tisha Thompson.
Mizuhara had known Ohtani since 2013, when Ohtani was just 18, and has spent as much time with Ohtani as anyone alive. The pair was recently photographed together as they posed in front of the flight that took the Dodgers to Korea, an image that included one of the first public pictures of Ohtani’s wife, Mamiko Tanaka. That Mizuhara was fired from the job that had brought him such international recognition (he reportedly has 419,000 Instagram followers) and irreparably damaged the relationship with Ohtani, someone he considered “a brother,” speaks to the scorched earth havoc this problem has wrought. It remains to be seen whether or not his self reported “gambling addiction” will tarnish the reputation of the sport’s brightest star.
Ohtani finally addressed the media on March 25th, explaining his side of the story and trying to make sense of the discrepancies inherent in the various accounts that had been published (and stated by Mizuhara to the press).
Ohtani (through his new interpreter, Will Ireton):
“The first time I knew about Ippei’s gambling was after the first game (in Korea) when we had the team meeting in the clubhouse.”
“During the team meeting, Ippei was speaking in English and I didn’t have a translator on my side. But even with that, I kind of understood what was going on and started to feel that there was something amiss.”
“Prior to the meeting, I was told by Ippei, ’Hey, let’s talk one-to-one in the hotel after the meeting.’ So, I waited until then.”
“Up until that team meeting, I didn’t know that Ippei had a gambling addiction and was in debt.”
“Obviously at that point, I obviously never agreed to pay off the debt or make payments to the bookmaker.”
“Finally, when we went back to the hotel and talked one-to-one, that’s when I found out that he had a massive debt.”
“And it was revealed to me during that meeting that Ippei admitted that he was sending money, using my account, to the bookmaker.”
“And at that moment, obviously it was an absurd thing that was happening and I contacted my representatives at that point.”
“All of this has been a complete lie.”
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do that on my behalf.
And I have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.”
“Up until a few days ago I didn’t know this was happening. … In conclusion Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies.”
“On a personal note, I’m very sad and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this.”
Ohtani made quite clear that he had no involvement in the placing of bets on any sport, and denies having made any payments to a bookmaker. Until the team meeting referenced above, during which Andrew Friedman, a Dodgers executive, told the team that Ohtani had helped cover Mizuhara’s gambling losses, Ohtani is claiming that he had no knowledge of the situation. This is directly at odds with the account provided by Ohtani’s own spokesman two days prior to the clubhouse meeting, saying that Ohtani had paid the debts for his friend. From the Thompson article on ESPN: “Ohtani told (his agent, Nez) Balelo he had covered Mizuhara’s debts in $500,000 increments.” From the same Thompson article on ESPN: Ohtani’s spokesman quotes Ohtani: “Yeah, I sent several large payments. That’s the maximum amount I could send.”
Now, it is entirely feasible that Mizuhara was misleading Ohtani about what was happening when he was translating for the player, and it is also plausible that the spokesperson for Ohtani was also being misinformed by Mizuhara in terms of what the player was actually saying. Regardless of the inherent truth of the matter, the danger manifest in this situation is obvious. Someone in Mizuhara’s position, facing life changing gambling debt, could conceivably feel compelled to attempt to influence his friend and employer on behalf of the wagering interests he’s indebted to. That is entirely speculative, and no allegations of such behavior has been leveled, but it isn’t hard to imagine.
Baseball is among the oldest sporting institutions in America, tracing its professional roots back to the late 1800’s before becoming a continuously operating business enterprise since 1902. In the earliest days, when player salaries were meager, gambling influence was rampant among the players, who were often offered sums of money by interested parties to assure certain outcomes. Recognizing the threat such behavior would have on the integrity of the game, whose sole appeal to the paying public was predicated on the premise that the games were true measures of skill and performance, baseball has drawn a bright red line under one of its oldest rules: Nobody associated with the game can bet on baseball, or be associated with gamblers who are doing so.
There have been numerous accounts of this rule having dire consequences for ballplayers, most famously the 1919 Chicago White Sox, who were banned by commissioner Kenesaw Landis for conspiring with gambling interests to lose the World Series. Sure fire Hall of Fame player Shoeless Joe Jackson has been denied entry into the hallowed museum as a result of his lifetime suspension. Pete Rose, the all time leader in hits in Major League Baseball history, suffered a similar fate when it was discovered that he was placing bets on baseball while he was managing the Cincinnati Reds. Despite yearly appeals to have the suspension overthrown, Rose remains on the outside looking in when it comes to any connection with baseball, much less the Hall of Fame.
Professional sports in the United States and in countries around the world have made overt and financially motivated relationships with internet gambling entities. In the US alone, online sports gambling, which is legal in 37 states, totaled $7.56 billion in 2022. The 2022 worldwide total was $63.53 billion, and that figure is projected to rise to $184 billion by 2032, according to the website Statista. With revenue like that capable of injecting significant fan interest (and lucrative corporate sponsorship) into every sport, it isn’t surprising that the leadership of athletic leagues have made it a priority to cozy up to these behemoths. The reasoning is clear: the athletes themselves, and the games they play, don’t have to do anything different than they’ve always done to generate the statistics and probabilities that drive the sports gambling industry.
Since sports gambling was legalized in the US in 2018, the clear red line outlawing association with gambling interests was going to be erased due to the sheer scope of the revenue potential such partnerships would represent. Pro sports leagues had long eschewed having franchises located in Las Vegas due to its proximity to legal sports gambling. Now, the NHL, NFL and (by 2027, if the A’s get their ducks in a row) even MLB will have pro teams playing in that mecca of wagering. Times change, and the almighty dollar drives decisions, making sports and legal gambling interests unlikely-but incredibly profitable-bedfellows.
The economic realities of the relationships between legal online gambling corporations and sports leagues may well be here to stay, and will probably become even more prevalent and overt in the years to come. ESPN carries betting lines and over-under figures for every college and pro sports game on their bottom-of-the-screen ticker. Draft Kings and Fan Duel promote similar options, and even feature in-game wagers for fans so inclined to indulge. As of late last year, no fewer than 12 professional sports stadiums/arenas had sports books (shops at which wagers can be legally placed) on their premises. That number is almost sure to double, or even triple, in the next three years. This arrangement will not go away, but the potential danger inherent in the proximity of gambling and sports has not been eliminated.
The Ohtani scandal may be the most recent example of how gambling can impact the biggest stars in the world, even if he is completely innocent (as he clearly maintains) of making any wagers himself. In the last calendar year, Maverick Carter, the business manager for LeBron James, admitted to placing bets on NBA games through an illegal bookie. The situation did not implicate James in any way, and has not prevented him from continuing to pursue his NBA career. In December of 2023, seven college football players in Iowa (four from Iowa State, three from Iowa) were accused of underage gambling, and at least one player bet on a football game in which he played.
Finally, on March 25th, the date of Ohtani’s press conference, news broke that NBA player Jontay Porter of the Toronto Raptors was the subject of irregularities on prop betting involving his performance in NBA games. Apparently, prop bets on the “under” for his statistics in a Raptors game against the Clippers on January 26th came pouring in, and when he left that game after playing only four minutes with what the team described as a re-aggravation of an eye injury, those bets represented the biggest money winner of any Draft Kings NBA prop from that night’s NBA games. On March 20th, the action on the under for his statistics (7.5 points, 5.5 rebounds) was again heavy, and he left that game with what the Raptors said was an illness. Bets on the under props for Porter that night were once again the number one revenue winner on Draft Kings, who have decided to investigate the unusual betting patterns involving Porter. A Draft Kings spokesperson had this to say: “In general, it is important to note that one of the many benefits of legal and regulated sports betting is that sports betting operators identify and report suspicious activity and the integrity of sport is therefore protected in a manner that does not exist in the illegal market.”
It is not at all difficult to envision situations such as these occurring with greater frequency, and involving players-and coaches-at the college and professional levels. The duty to maintain and police the integrity of the games being contested for our entertainment has never been more salient or vital to the immediate and long term viability of those sports. It is not at all hyperbolic to posit that the commissioners of the various sports leagues around the world (as well as the legal teams that work for them) will need to be vigilant in their monitoring of the players who make their sports possible. Insuring that they understand, in no uncertain terms, the dangers of gambling and gambling interests to their professional careers, must always be their top priority.
No other singular concern poses as dire a threat to the integrity of their sport, and despite how incredibly valuable the revenue from those partnerships may be to the health and growth of the leagues, the public must always be confident that they are seeing contests that are unencumbered by forces that might seek to pervert them for financial gain. Once that doubt begins to pervade the sporting panoply, the entire industry might be at risk of collapse. The leaders of our games would be wise to tread very carefully through the scenarios we’ve seen in just the past year, and take great pains to insure that those involved in such activity be punished to the maximum allowed by the laws that govern player (or coach) behavior. Only when others see such draconian consequences befall their professional brethren will the incentive to contravene their competitive duties seem to pale in comparison.
