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

[Zeno]

It is a small amount of money for sure especially for a guy making so much but the stakes of throwing an individual ball seems so low( in the context of the game). People make all kinds of stupid decisions that can’t be rationally explained when simply weighing risk and reward. The opportunity to do dumb things has never been easier and more visible than it is right now.

[draftbarnes]

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Federal prosecutors have charged two Cleveland Guardians pitchers with allegedly rigging their pitches in a sports betting scheme that “betrayed America’s pastime,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said Sunday.

Emmanuel Clase de la Cruz, 27, and Luis Leandro Ortiz Ribera, 26, allegedly worked with co-conspirators to place bets on their performance to rake in roughly $450,000 over two years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The prosecutor’s office on Sunday released a previously sealed complaint against the two men accusing them of defrauding sports betting platforms.

[makubesu]

I’m all for mlb punishing these guys, but I don’t get why this is a crime. It should be a civil matter between the casinos and the players.

[dballislife]

honestly gambling in general in American isnt even at its peak yet...its just getting started, it will get even worse

[Lalouie]

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.

i don't think the fbi etc combs sports for this stuff - think of all the sports, all the levels in this whole usa

something really stupid has to pop up or be reported

although you know what......AI can be used to spot irregularities. i think we'll see more sh*** and it will be tied to organized crime maybe maybe not through no fault of the players themselves

[durden_tyler]

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

Takes the heat off the NBA gambling scandals a bit.

No NBA star yet, the league/players have mastered this art for years so no, no big fish will get caught. LOL

[Sane]

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?

Damn what worries me is that there are inexperienced people like you asking legitimate innocent questions like this.

For as long as humans have written things down, gambling has ruined places and people. Even when they were just near the gambling and didn't participate. Even when regulation didn't exist, it just persisted tillit destroyed entire cities and communities.

The excuse that customers are not forced to gamble and commit crimes is the original trick. They are exploiting a weakness in the human biology which is so dark. Lives destroyed so that someone can make a buck. The person who makes the buck for some reason always ends up corrupting leaders.

I was a financial regulator for almost 7 years and I'm not religious at all. Trust me, gambling is just bad for an economy.

[zero rings]

What kind of sicko actually places a bet on this? This should be illegal even if the players weren’t rigging it

[hauntedcomputer]

they'll get pardoned if the team becomes the Indians again

those are the rules

[Curmudgeon]

Well, we had the Black Sox in 1919 and now the Blackguard Guardians.

Seriously, this is just the tip of the iceberg, and professional sports have brought it on themselves. The owners are in bed with the sportsbooks and just don't care about the integrity of sport. As in the NBA, the investigation will be protracted until everyone forgets about it.

[jbk1234]

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Federal prosecutors have charged two Cleveland Guardians pitchers with allegedly rigging their pitches in a sports betting scheme that “betrayed America’s pastime,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said Sunday.

Emmanuel Clase de la Cruz, 27, and Luis Leandro Ortiz Ribera, 26, allegedly worked with co-conspirators to place bets on their performance to rake in roughly $450,000 over two years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The prosecutor’s office on Sunday released a previously sealed complaint against the two men accusing them of defrauding sports betting platforms.

I have no sympathy for anyone involved in this, but betraying America's pastime is a little rich given the fact that the White Sox took money from a gangster to tank the World Series when they were heavily favored.

[jbk1234]

Well, we had the Black Sox in 1919 and now the Blackguard Guardians.

Seriously, this is just the tip of the iceberg, and professional sports have brought it on themselves. The owners are in bed with the sportsbooks and just don't care about the integrity of sport. As in the NBA, the investigation will be protracted until everyone forgets about it.

I mean players have been indicted. It's no longer in control of the respective leagues. Unless someone shows up at Mar o Largo with a crypto wallet, these cases will go to trial or be pled out.

[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?

Damn what worries me is that there are inexperienced people like you asking legitimate innocent questions like this.

For as long as humans have written things down, gambling has ruined places and people. Even when they were just near the gambling and didn't participate. Even when regulation didn't exist, it just persisted tillit destroyed entire cities and communities.

The excuse that customers are not forced to gamble and commit crimes is the original trick. They are exploiting a weakness in the human biology which is so dark. Lives destroyed so that someone can make a buck. The person who makes the buck for some reason always ends up corrupting leaders.

I was a financial regulator for almost 7 years and I'm not religious at all. Trust me, gambling is just bad for an economy.

...right.

My question was not coming from the point of everything was sunshine and rainbows before gambling became legal, so you can step down off the soapbox. But a lot of the discourse whenever something like this or Rozier or Billups comes up winds up pointing to how the leagues are now in bed with gambling, and that's what I was trying to question. Is it MORE prevelant now or is it just being brought to light more frequently?

[Sane]

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?

Damn what worries me is that there are inexperienced people like you asking legitimate innocent questions like this.

For as long as humans have written things down, gambling has ruined places and people. Even when they were just near the gambling and didn't participate. Even when regulation didn't exist, it just persisted tillit destroyed entire cities and communities.

The excuse that customers are not forced to gamble and commit crimes is the original trick. They are exploiting a weakness in the human biology which is so dark. Lives destroyed so that someone can make a buck. The person who makes the buck for some reason always ends up corrupting leaders.

I was a financial regulator for almost 7 years and I'm not religious at all. Trust me, gambling is just bad for an economy.

...right.

My question was not coming from the point of everything was sunshine and rainbows before gambling became legal, so you can step down off the soapbox. But a lot of the discourse whenever something like this or Rozier or Billups comes up winds up pointing to how the leagues are now in bed with gambling, and that's what I was trying to question. Is it MORE prevelant now or is it just being brought to light more frequently?

Logically, both.

[JellosJigglin]

I’m all for mlb punishing these guys, but I don’t get why this is a crime. It should be a civil matter between the casinos and the players.

It's literally fraud, in an industry that is highly regulated.

It's a textbook crime on many levels: money laundering, bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, etc.

[og15]

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?

Damn what worries me is that there are inexperienced people like you asking legitimate innocent questions like this.

For as long as humans have written things down, gambling has ruined places and people. Even when they were just near the gambling and didn't participate. Even when regulation didn't exist, it just persisted tillit destroyed entire cities and communities.

The excuse that customers are not forced to gamble and commit crimes is the original trick. They are exploiting a weakness in the human biology which is so dark. Lives destroyed so that someone can make a buck. The person who makes the buck for some reason always ends up corrupting leaders.

I was a financial regulator for almost 7 years and I'm not religious at all. Trust me, gambling is just bad for an economy.

...right.

My question was not coming from the point of everything was sunshine and rainbows before gambling became legal, so you can step down off the soapbox. But a lot of the discourse whenever something like this or Rozier or Billups comes up winds up pointing to how the leagues are now in bed with gambling, and that's what I was trying to question. Is it MORE prevelant now or is it just being brought to light more frequently?

Who knows, but I know this.

Ballislife did a 1v1 PPV event this weekend, it was essentially pro's vs Youtubers (and with 1v1 truly being a different sport, a really good Youtube 1v1 play IS a pro in that scene), and the amount of people who came into the gym with loads of cash for betting on the games was ridiculous. And the problem with when betting gets involved is that people can get hostile if they know their money is not going to come back.

This guy talks about it in that space:
https://youtu.be/xZj5BdOL4RM?t=1598

[SkyHook]

Except for the slippery slope argument, I'm having a hard time giving a crap about guys cheating on prop bets, things that I don't see have real impact on wins and losses. Seems like a waste of time and legal resources to protect some degenerate gamblers from losses on the most ridiculous wagers out there. These sports leagues are sleeping with dogs and surprised when they're infested with fleas.

[makubesu]

I’m all for mlb punishing these guys, but I don’t get why this is a crime. It should be a civil matter between the casinos and the players.

It's literally fraud, in an industry that is highly regulated.

It's a textbook crime on many levels: money laundering, bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, etc.

I’m not saying it isn’t a crime, but rather that it shouldn’t be. These laws only exist to protect the rich, your average person sees no benefit of protecting casinos with the full force of the law.

[Lalouie]

maybe that's what they're used in the dominican republic

[Daddy 801]

Gambling was always in control by the mafia. Now that Vegas and a bunch of stat geeks are in control and it generates tax revenue the government won’t let players manipulate games because they want Vegas to win and collect more tax revenue. And Vegas is going to put pressure on the government to make sure their prediction modeling is accurate. This was inevitable once gambling and sports merged. I’m sure it happens way more than people want to realize.

Our society is just getting worse and worse. Even the things that bring joy like sports are getting ruined.