OT: Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz indicted for pitch rigging

[LockoutSeason]

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[ImSlower]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46906636/guardians-emmanuel-clase-luis-ortiz-indicted-pitch-rigging

Prosecutors allege that Ortiz was paid $5,000 for throwing an intentional ball June 15 and Clase given $5,000 for facilitating it. They did it again, according to the indictment, June 27. The payment for each on that pitch was $7,000 apiece.

For non-baseball fans; Clase was on a $20 million contract. He was pretty dang good. Now his career is over, Cleveland sports gets screwed again, and the mofo goin' to jail.

[Iwasawitness]

Clase was a CY Young candidate two years ago and one of the best relievers in baseball. It's insane to see him resort to something like this.

[shangrila]

I do wonder if this kind of thing is a chicken/egg situation.

As in, is this kind of thing caused by the acceptance and promotion of gambling in the various leagues? Or has it always happened and the increased scrutiny of a regulated industry just bringing it to light?

[BadWolf]

I do wonder if this kind of thing is a chicken/egg situation.

As in, is this kind of thing caused by the acceptance and promotion of gambling in the various leagues? Or has it always happened and the increased scrutiny of a regulated industry just bringing it to light?

You wonder?

[shangrila]

I do wonder if this kind of thing is a chicken/egg situation.

As in, is this kind of thing caused by the acceptance and promotion of gambling in the various leagues? Or has it always happened and the increased scrutiny of a regulated industry just bringing it to light?

You wonder?

That's what I said, yeah.

[bisme37]

That's some poor decision making right there.

[KokoKaizer]

In chester' word : I'm lost

[toooskies]

They caught it happening twice. I am sure it happened much more often.

Takes the heat off the NBA gambling scandals a bit.

[manlisten]

I do wonder if this kind of thing is a chicken/egg situation.

As in, is this kind of thing caused by the acceptance and promotion of gambling in the various leagues? Or has it always happened and the increased scrutiny of a regulated industry just bringing it to light?

Lol. Sports has served as a vehicle for gambling basically since it's inception. It's pretty obvious if you've ever bet on a game or if you're even just aware of the spread while watching a game. Look up the Black Sox scandal. It seems some fans are finding out that Santa Clause isn't real.

[Mephariel]

I do wonder if this kind of thing is a chicken/egg situation.

As in, is this kind of thing caused by the acceptance and promotion of gambling in the various leagues? Or has it always happened and the increased scrutiny of a regulated industry just bringing it to light?

Lol. Sports has served as a vehicle for gambling basically since it's inception. It's pretty obvious if you've ever bet on a game or if you're even just aware of the spread while watching a game. Look up the Black Sox scandal. It seems some fans are finding out that Santa Clause isn't real.

Exactly. But I am sure some people will blame Silver on this. He taught the MLB players how to cheat right? And the UFC betting scandal, that must be Silver as well right?

LOL. Gambling issues have been around sports for ages.

[xdrta+]

I do wonder if this kind of thing is a chicken/egg situation.

As in, is this kind of thing caused by the acceptance and promotion of gambling in the various leagues? Or has it always happened and the increased scrutiny of a regulated industry just bringing it to light?

Lol. Sports has served as a vehicle for gambling basically since it's inception. It's pretty obvious if you've ever bet on a game or if you're even just aware of the spread while watching a game. Look up the Black Sox scandal. It seems some fans are finding out that Santa Clause isn't real.

That may well be true, but regarding this specific case, it has never been as easy to bet on individual pitches as it is now. Games, sure, even stats, but there's no doubt that the rise of online betting makes the sheer volume of individual pitch bets unlike anything that's gone before.

[jbk1234]

I do wonder if this kind of thing is a chicken/egg situation.

As in, is this kind of thing caused by the acceptance and promotion of gambling in the various leagues? Or has it always happened and the increased scrutiny of a regulated industry just bringing it to light?

You wonder?

I mean before betting apps, it would be hard to place a first pitch in a random inning during random regular season game bet, and if you walked into a sports book to make a heavy bet on something like that, it would draw a lot of scrutiny (assuming the sports book would take it).

[LockoutSeason]

If gambling is going to be legal then prop betting needs to be banned.

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[Capn'O]

Wait...

Can you bet on individual pitches as they occur?

[jbk1234]

Wait...

Can you bet on individual pitches as they occur?

First pitch.

[Capn'O]

That guy Harleybob who used to gamble and then worked for the Mavs gave a great interview with Pablo Torre on sports gambling recently. One of the key points is that these prop bets are the easiest to catch if you rig and you'd have to be REALLY dumb to rig it. The riggings show up as huge anomalies.

[Capn'O]

Wait...

Can you bet on individual pitches as they occur?

First pitch.

What idiots.

[bkkrh]

I do wonder if this kind of thing is a chicken/egg situation.

As in, is this kind of thing caused by the acceptance and promotion of gambling in the various leagues? Or has it always happened and the increased scrutiny of a regulated industry just bringing it to light?

What I really start to wonder about is how this is apparently becoming such an issue in US sports, where pros are earning already ridiculous amounts of money. In the mean time it is almost no issue at all in any European country, where sports betting is legal in most countries for decades and pretty much all cases that happened until now were in smaller/amateur leagues. At the same time players get paid less on average and a football/tennis game would be way easier to rig than Basketball/Baseball/American Football.

[Dr Aki]

Gambling is such an insidious vice.