JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
There's another betting scandal in professional sports. Federal prosecutors indicted two pitchers from the Cleveland Guardians baseball team yesterday. They are accused of intentionally manipulating some of their pitches during games as part of this big gambling scheme. It is the latest betting scandal to hit the sports world, and it likely will not be the last. For more, I'm joined in studio by NPR senior business editor Rafael Nam. Hi.
RAFAEL NAM, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: So Rafael, start by telling us what these two players from the Guardians are accused of.
NAM: So both Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been accused of fraud, basically. Prosecutors allege that the two intentionally threw bad pitches - threw balls and not strikes, in other words - in order to benefit people who were betting that was exactly what would happen. So effectively, this was a scheme to rig bets, and the government says the two players were paid to do that.
SUMMERS: How so?
NAM: So let's start with Clase. He's a three-time All-Star. Prosecutors accuse him of manipulating some of his pitches starting in 2023, for example by intentionally throwing some pitches into the dirt. Overall, prosecutors say, thanks to Clase, this betting scheme earned him and others over $400,000. And then there's Luis Ortiz. He's a little less well-known, but he's accused of joining the scheme earlier this year, leading to more than $60,000 in fraudulent wagers. And if convicted of all charges, each pitcher could face a prison time of over 60 years. Now, lawyers for both players deny the accusations and say they're innocent in statements to NPR. And the Guardians have not responded yet.
SUMMERS: Well, I mean, Rafael, it was less than two weeks ago that we saw this other sort of big gambling scandal that involved the NBA. Why do you think it is that we're seeing more of these cases now?
NAM: You know, when you talk to people in the sports world, nobody seems surprised. Ever since gambling was effectively legalized by the Supreme Court in 2018, we've seen more and more gambling in sports, especially through online bets. And online gambling has become very sophisticated. One of the hottest trends in online betting is this feature called proprietary bets, or prop bets. These are essentially microbets on a small aspect of the game. You can make bets that a basketball player will miss a particular free throw, for example, or in this case, that Clase and Ortiz were going to throw bad pitches in a particular inning in a particular moment.
Now, this types of prop bets happen during nearly every game, all game long. And they are especially tempting for some athletes. I talked to Michal Lorenc, who teaches sports management at the University of Michigan.
MICHAL LORENC: Some athletes, professional or collegiate, can justify they're not, quote-unquote, "throwing" a game. They're only doing something small. They're not impacting the game.
NAM: And they're hard to detect. It doesn't have to involve a big player or a big, sophisticated scheme. For example, an athlete could work with a family member to manipulate one aspect of his or her performance and go undetected.
SUMMERS: Well, why are there so many of these prop bets now?
NAM: Because, Juana, all sides here benefit from prop bets. Of course, nobody supports illegal wagers, but keep in mind, leagues have hitched themselves to these gambling companies. You can't watch a sports game these days without seeing an ad from an online gambling company. Broadcasters even mention betting odds during games. And after all, it's in the broadcasters' or teams' interest when people are glued to the entire game, making these props all throughout.
SUMMERS: Where do we go from here?
NAM: We're likely to see sports leagues take more steps to address prop bets. Just today, MLB announced they would work with gambling companies to place limits on wagers involving pitches to only $200 to reduce temptation to manipulate things. And several of the experts I talked to believe that states will start stepping in soon.
SUMMERS: NPR's Rafael Nam, thank you so much.
NAM: Thank you, Juana.
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