A pair of Senators, from all sides of the aisle, want information from Major League Baseball regarding the gambling scandal that resulted in latest federal indictments of Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says the league will comply with the request.
“We are going to respond fully and cooperatively and on time to the Senate inquiry,” Manfred advised reporters on Wednesday, by way of Eric Fisher of FrontOfficeSports.com. “Obviously the issue has received a lot of attention, and we understand why we got the inquiry. We think the steps we’ve taken in terms of limiting the size of these prop bets and prohibiting parlays off of them is a really, really significant change that should reduce the incentive for anyone to be involved in an inappropriate way.”
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Recently, main sportsbooks have agreed to restrict the quantity of wagers on pitch-by-pitch prop bets to $200, with sure different prop bets being banned from the ultra-profitable (for the sportsbooks) multi-leg parlays.
“We think the changes that we made strike the right balance,” Manfred stated.
The proper stability, frankly, is to get rid of any bets, on each sport, that relate to the efficiency of 1 participant. While it’s totally arduous to repair video games, it’s totally simple to rig prop bets. Allowing prop bets to linger preserves the temptation to rig them.
But the horse has lengthy deserted the prop-bet barn. Gamblers need the motion, and the sportsbooks need the cash that comes from it. With all sports activities leagues rolling within the sheets with the sportsbooks, there is no manner prop bets can be going wherever, absent a number of of the varied states which have legalized gambling selecting to make prop bets unlawful — or an enforceable federal regulation that wipes them out nationwide.
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Neither will occur. The sportsbooks have the cash to foyer legislators aggressively, because of the income they derive from prop bets and parlays. And they will maintain banging on the illogical notion that, if prop bets are eradicated from the menu of wagers that may be rapidly, simply, and legally made on a mobile phone, gamblers will put down their units and go discover a man with one eyebrow and a number of gold chains with whom prop bets may be positioned illegally.