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Read Full BioOhio Governor Mike DeWine said that Major League Baseball (MLB) has an agreement with a majority of sports betting companies to prohibit micro prop bets.
The Governor said that the MLB commissioner’s office told him the league “thought they had an agreement” with all of the sports gaming companies, except for one, to ban the bets.
Micro prop bets are wagers on specific outcomes during a sporting event, often controlled by a single player—for example, wagering on whether a particular pitch will be called a ball or a strike.
In an interview with The Columbus Dispatch, DeWine said, “These micro prop bets are just very dangerous. They’re really a great threat to the integrity of sports. And they can occur in baseball, but they can also occur in other sports as well. And they do occur in other sports as well.”
The ban would only impact MLB and not other professional sports leagues, according to DeWine. He said he would hold off on pursuing any state regulatory action against micro prop betting until he hears back from MLB and Commissioner Rob Manfred after the World Series.
MLB’s Investigation into Cleveland Closers Served as Catalyst
DeWine has been leading calls for a ban on prop bets since two Cleveland Guardians pitchers, Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, were suspended by the MLB.
Both players remain on leave and have been barred from participating in winter baseball in the Dominican Republic as the investigation into suspicious betting on pitches continues.
Two pitches thrown by Ortiz have been highlighted as suspect. The pitches, one against the Mariners on June 15 and the other against the Cardinals on June 27, both missed the strike zone by a wide margin.
The nature of the investigation surrounding Clase has not yet been revealed, but journalist Hector Gomez stated that, “Emmanuel Clase will never pitch in MLB again. The gambling evidence found against him is irrefutable.”
NBA Scandal Renews Momentum Behind Prop Bet Ban
DeWine seized on the current NBA betting scandal to revisit his calls for a ban on prop betting. At the center of the scandal is Terry Rozier, who allegedly informed a gambling syndicate that he would exit a game early when playing for the Charlotte Hornets. This led to a surge of bets on the “unders” in his prop markets.
In addition, former LA Lakers coach Damon Jones and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups have both been accused of feeding insider information about team lineups and players’ injury status to bettors.
It has cast a shadow over sports gambling and is perhaps the largest betting scandal since the repeal of the PASPA ruling in 2018, which led to the legalization of sports betting nationwide.
Politicians Weigh in on Scandal
As a result of the high-profile nature of the case, politicians have been pressuring NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to explain how such an incident could have occurred.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation have both sent letters to Silver highlighting concerns about the integrity of the league.
Ted Cruz, who chairs the latter committee, stated in his letter that he wants Silver to “explain the extent to which the NBA has addressed and plans to further address the alleged instances of sports betting, gambling and game rigging.”
It is an opportunity for lawmakers in favor of regulating the betting industry to pass restrictive legislation. DeWine has called for not just a ban on prop bets in Ohio or the MLB, but a complete, nationwide prohibition.
He said that a “holistic solution” that includes the entire country is the best answer. But if that cannot be achieved, he said he will “probably” ask the Ohio Casino Control Commission, the state agency that regulates the gambling industry, to ban the bets.
Gambling Insiders Say Politicians are Misguided
According to gambling industry insiders, though, removing player props from the betting menus at regulated sportsbooks would do nothing to alleviate such transgressions. In fact, it would make them far more difficult to uncover.
“Were we aware of how many people were doing it [pre-legalization]? No. You know why? Because we didn’t have dedicated resources looking at it,” said Joe Brennan Jr., co-founder of Prime Sports and an instrumental figure in the legalization of US sports betting.
Brennan Jr. then posted on X that banning prop bets “would actually be the dumbest thing you could do if you wanted to guard against cheating, and exactly the kind of ‘simple solution’ more instant experts will continue to propose.”
Nevertheless, the “instant experts” may be able to use the public outcry over the NBA and MLB scandals as an opportunity to attract attention, garner votes, and push forward new policies restricting gambling markets.
