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MLB’s Rules on Gambling: What Happens When Players Bet?

barry m. bloom
·7 min read

Major League Baseball’s stunning gambling suspensions handed down this month to five players—including a lifetime ban for San Diego Padres prospect Tucupita Marcano—are the product of an unwieldy system that dates back to the seminal MLB gambling scandal with the 1919 Black Sox.

Two pieces of text form the backbone of baseball’s gambling policy: Rule 21(d) of MLB’s own rules and bylaws, and Attachment 61 of the Basic Agreement negotiated between the owners and the MLB Players Association.

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MLB Rule 21(d) has long guided the code of ethics regarding gambling, and it’s behind the lifetime suspensions of uniformed baseball personnel from Shoeless Jackson to Pete Rose. Like Marcano, both were banished from the game for breaking a sacrosanct rule against gambling on games in which their own teams were playing.

Attachment 61 of the current Basic Agreement is meant to expand on that rule, a spokesman for the union said.

Whether this all needs to be updated in the next collective bargaining because of MLB’s now-cozy relationship with legal gambling outlets and casinos remains to be seen. The current Basic Agreement expires after the 2026 World Series, and negotiations will certainly begin sometime during that season.

It will come as no surprise if baseball’s gambling policy is re-examined in labor talks. When Jackson and seven of his Chicago White Sox teammates were banished in 1920 for throwing the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, and when Rose was banned in 1989 for betting on his own games as Reds manager, there was a bright line between betting on baseball and participation in the sport. The recent rapid evolution of legalized gambling in the U.S. appears to have blurred that line, at least in the minds of some players.

Who was banned from MLB for gambling?

Four of the other five recent players—Jay Groom, also in the Padres’ organization; Michael Kelly of the Oakland Athletics; Jose Rodriguez of the Philadelphia Phillies; and Andrew Saalfrank of the Arizona Diamondbacks—were all suspended for a year under Rule 21(d)(1), because they “bet any sum [legally] whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform.”

Thus, they bet on baseball, but not on their own games. That’s an automatic one-year suspension.

Marcano, as a member of the Pirates organization before joining the Padres, violated Rule 21(d)(2): “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”

That means he is suspended for life.

What happens when a player is caught for gambling?

Under the Basic Agreement, players are informed of the disciplinary process once it starts, and they have the right to grievance proceedings. That part of the process is confidential, and by the time suspensions are handed down publicly, the grievance process been concluded. So, if any of these players chose to go through a grievance process, it’s already over, and they have no right to further grieve these decisions.

Can MLB players and bet on baseball games?

The answer is no. Players, along with managers, coaches and umpires, are all forbidden from betting on the sport under Rule 21.

But those longstanding restrictions have come into conflict with recent changes in state laws and in the broader culture, as well as with MLB and other pro sports’ embrace of revenue related to legalized gambling. Before the Supreme Court affirmed states’ rights to legalize betting in 2018, in some areas of the country where state legislatures have passed appropriate laws, bettors had to place sports wagers with illegal bookies or websites.

Since 2018, that’s changed, with TV coverage and advertising all urging fans to place bets on their phones, on computers or at newly legal betting parlors across the nation. In Phoenix, for example, there’s a sports book in the plaza outside the main entrance to Chase Field, where the Diamondbacks play 81 regular season games.

Can MLB players bet on other sports?

Yes, but there’s a major catch. Rule 21(d)(3) prohibits anyone involved in baseball from betting illegally on any sport.

This is the part of the rule that originally hung Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s former translator.

Mizuhara bet millions of dollars on non-baseball-related sporting events with a bookie in California, a state where gambling is illegal. Had he bet the same amount of money legally in Arizona, Mizuhara probably wouldn’t have been caught. Instead, he was ensnared in the bookie’s operation and is now facing 33 years in prison after pleading guilty to the betting and stealing from Ohtani’s accounts to repay his sizeable debts.

Mizuhara’s misdeeds could have had a profound effect on Ohtani had the superstar been found to be a knowing partner in them. He wasn’t.

All this has occurred since the start of 2024 regular season and has put headlights on MLB’s business relationships with casinos and gambling outlets. Through licensing agreements, MLB is earning more than $1 billion annually, opening a huge new revenue stream for the owners and the players.

It would be incumbent on all parties, then, to increase education for the players, in particular, considering all the pressure now being put on the those players. And that’s where Attachment 61 steps in.

How does MLB educate its players about the gambling rules?

The union and MLB meet with the players on each team every spring, and gambling is a huge topic of that discussion. Players are aware of the restrictions and rules, which are constantly reiterated in multiple languages. Expect to see a doubling-down of that education process this year in the wake of the suspensions and the Ohtani-Mizuhara incident.

Attachment 61, Part C, stipulates details of that education process, which is now spread to the 5,500 minor leaguers covered by the union.

Particularly at issue is how players are affected by emerging gambling technology, government investigations, sponsorships and how other sports are dealing with all this. Those aspects are addressed in Part C(2) of the attachment, which also states that “the Parties will meet and confer each offseason,” to discuss these issues.

Is there a program that directly addresses gambling addiction for the players? 

No. Unlike the Joint Drug Policy and the Domestic Violence Policy, there’s not a formal collectively bargained program at this point that addresses the gambling issue.

The Joint Drug Policy measures the use of performance enhancing drugs, sets drug testing and a series of penalties for a player who tests positive. The Domestic Violence Policy sets a series of penalties for players who abuse their partners (or others) whether they are charged or found guilty of that offense in court.

Gambling is handled much like alcohol and drugs of abuse. There are programs at the club and league level where a player can report a problem and have it handled anonymously as a mental health issue. Many players report such problems and continue to participate. Others take time off to deal with their issue.

A perfect recent example of this is Chris Martin, a 38-year-old pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, who told the team he wanted to take some time off to deal with anxiety. On June 5, the Red Sox put him on the 15-day injured list and, in agreement with Martin, announced that his mental health was the reason.

Perhaps a joint gambling policy is a matter that needs to be addressed in the next collective bargaining negotiations.

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