Betting in Baseball: What MLB’s Rulebook Says About Players and Employees Gambling

Talks of betting have finally entered baseball. While it was always a matter of when, not if, the way it started has surprised even the biggest of cynics. Who’d have expected baseball’s biggest star, the $700 million sensation Shohei Ohtani, and his stateside buddy Ippei Mizuhara to find themselves in the middle of these talks? Absolutely no one. However, now that it has happened – what’s next? Open up the rulebook – Rule 21.

Ever since the dawn of time betting has been a part of humanity. Whether it was on where the apple would fall or whose fire would go out first, betting was constant. So naturally when sports became a thing soon betting followed. However, the stakes are far higher here because unabated, this gambling could lead to fixing. As a result, MLB has put forth some huge rules to curtail this trend. So can a baseball player make a bet? In short – no and yes.

MLB’s mechanism to control gambling by baseball-affiliated people 

The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov explains how the betting rules work in baseball. Two sections extensively mention gambling and MLB’s strict rules – Attachment 60 in CBA and League Rule 21. While the former extensively deals with players, the latter covers the whole of the baseball landscape.

Attachment 60 is quite straightforward in its message “No Betting on Baseball.” So can a player bet on MLB games? No. Minor league games? Not at all. What about youth, college, high school games, or international games? The answer’s the same. Everything related to baseball (and softball, though it isn’t explicitly mentioned) is out of the window. 

Similarly for all teams’ employees, officials, coaches, and anybody even loosely attached to baseball betting on the sport is strictly prohibited. Rule 21 (d) (1) states that any player, umpire, league or team official, or employee will be declared ineligible for one year if they bet anything on a baseball game in which they have “no duty to perform,” i.e. they aren’t involved. 

In case they bet on a game they’re actively involved in? Rule 21(d) (2) puts forth a lifetime ban on such individuals. In short, MLB strictly prohibits betting of any kind on baseball games. But what about other games? In sports other than baseball and softball, betting can be done but it has to be through legal means. Any gambling done through illegal bookies is a punishable offense. So is there any wiggle room in this law?

How the league dealt with the possibility of a wiggle room

Massive rules like this tend to have a wiggle room. One could exploit these loopholes and effectively make the entire procedure redundant. However, to negate this risk Rule 21 Section F has covered up every other possible misconduct with an all-encompassing clause. 

The clause states that these rules are not exclusive and that any conduct, transactions, or practices not in the best interests of baseball are strictly prohibited (even if they’re not mentioned in this section). So the league has quite clearly covered all the bases with this one section.

In the end, while Shohei Ohtani’s nightmare is set to continue, this controversy has given a strong reason to revise all the rulebooks. With gambling setting its foot in America’s favorite pastime, there’s a long battle to be fought.

Read more: Shohei Ohtani’s Ippei Mizuhara Incident Foreshadows a Bigger Problem? MLB Faces Massive Betting Threat