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Yesterday, in Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani revealed that the Dodgers are closing in on the long-time Japanese superstar after some investigative reporters asked why $4.5 million was transferred from Ohtani's bank account to an illegal bookmaking operation. This was his first public comment since last week's shocking news that he had fired his interpreter.
Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara initially explained that he had asked Otani to pay off his gambling debts. However, Otani's lawyer denied this, claiming that Otani was the “victim of grand theft” by his friend, and Mizuhara changed his story accordingly. Fans spent the weekend wondering what the truth was, as Major League Baseball announced it was opening an investigation. Was the biggest star in sports actually robbed by a friend? Or just get him out of trouble? And what about the opposite (and darker) possibility? Did Mizuhara take a bullet for Ohtani?
According to Otani, it was theft. Yesterday, Otani, who sat next to a new interpreter in front of a packed press room and read aloud in Japanese from a prepared memo, said he had never bet on sports and told Mizuhara to send money from his bank account to a bookmaker. He said he never gave any instructions. “Ippei continues to steal money from my account and lie to me,” Otani said through a new translator. “I have never bet on baseball or any other sport, and I have never asked anyone to bet on my behalf.'' He did not take questions.
Watch | Otani claims that he was a victim of theft by his friend and interpreter Mizuhara.
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is addressing a gambling scandal involving his former translator. Otani said he had never bet on sports and claimed that Ippei Mizuhara stole millions of dollars from his account to cover gambling debts.
Around the same time Ohtani issued his statement, ESPN's NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter was under investigation by the NBA for “prop betting misconduct involving him.” He tweeted that he was there.
For those unfamiliar, prop (short for proposition) betting involves betting on a particular player to score more or less than 14.5 points in a particular game. Or the rebounds will be above or below his 5.5. Or 3.5 assists, you get the idea.
It may come as a surprise that bookmakers would offer props to such an inconsequential figure as Porter. Porter is a mid-season NBA player who is averaging 4 points, 3 rebounds, and several assists in an average of 14 minutes per game for the struggling Raptors this season. However, player props are popular with novice gamblers and are a big source of revenue for sports betting apps like DraftKings and FanDuel that cater to such (mostly money-losing) bettors.
According to a report from ESPN, red flags were raised in two of Porter's games (January 26th against the LA Clippers and March 20th against Sacramento). In both cases, bookmakers noticed a sharp increase in Porter's action 'under' various props. And those unders were paid after Porter left both games early for medical reasons. He suffered an eye injury after playing just four minutes with zero points, three rebounds and one assist against the Clippers, and played just three minutes with zero points, zero assists and two rebounds against Sacramento. He later cited illness as the reason.
According to a report from ESPN, sportsbook industry insiders said multiple betting accounts attempted to bet large sums “$10,000 to $20,000 or more” on Porter's under against the Clippers, but bets typically ranged from $1,000 to $20,000 or more. The amount is limited to $2,000 or $2,000. Porter's salary with the Raptors this season is $415,000. However, it is a two-way contract, and his income will decrease if he is demoted to a minor league team.
Porter's controversy doesn't have the same staggering amount of money as Ohtani's, but it's definitely worse. In Ohtani's case, it seems plausible that the interpreter actually stole from him, and that Ohtani never placed bets with illegal bookmakers (or asked anyone to place bets with them). And no evidence has emerged linking Ohtani to baseball gambling. However, there appears to be fairly convincing circumstantial evidence that Porter may have manipulated the statistics in the two games in question. If that turns out to be true, it goes to the heart of the integrity of the NBA and even of professional sports itself. If fans don't believe the game is at that level, everything falls apart.
The Ohtani-Porter scandal is currently the biggest story in North American sports, and for good reason. But they also make us forget about the many other troubling gambling-related things that have hit the headlines this month.
On March 10, the NBA accused Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert of mocking the referee's technical foul call and making a “money” gesture by rubbing his thumb and two fingers together, according to referee Scott Scott. -Foster was fined $100,000 for implying he was being paid off. Afterwards, Gobert said he believed the recent surge in sports betting was influencing the outcome of the game. “I think it hurts our game,” Gobert said. “I know the stakes and all of that is getting bigger and bigger, but it shouldn't feel that way.”
Last week, Tyrese Haliburton, one of the NBA's rising young stars, vented to reporters about the dehumanizing effect gambling has on players. “To half the world, I'm just helping them make money on DraftKings and stuff like that,” the Indiana Pacers guard said. “I'm a prop, you know what I mean? That's what most of my social media consists of.”
The next night, Cleveland Cavaliers coach JB Bickerstaff revealed that he had been receiving threats from gamblers. “They got my phone number and started sending me weird messages about where I lived and my kids and things like that,” Bickerstaff said.
The Cavs' home arena now has a sportsbook. And of course, fans in most states in the United States, not just Ontario, can legally place bets on gambling apps from their phones. Bickerstaff lamented how it has changed the way people watch games and treat players and coaches. “We've crossed the line,” Bickerstaff said. “It's ridiculous that I'm standing there and we're leading by 10 and the spread is 11 and people are yelling at me to leave players to cover the spread. Thing.”
Watch | Otani's interpreter was fired on charges of theft and gambling.
Shohei Ohtani's longtime friend and translator Ippei Mizuhara has been fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers after being accused of illegal gambling totaling millions of dollars. Initial reports said the MLB superstar had paid off the debt, but now there are accusations that the money was stolen.
Gambling controversies aren't limited to the NBA and MLB. Several NFL players have recently been suspended for betting on league games, including star receiver Calvin Ridley, who missed a year. In October, the NHL suspended Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto for 41 games for unspecified “sports betting-related conduct,” but the league said he had no right to bet on the NHL. He made sure to include the statement that “no evidence was found.''
I don't want to get too didactic here, especially since I've been betting on sports since I was a kid, but all of these stories speak to a certain rottenness of the entire sports-industrial complex.
The widespread legalization of sports betting in North America and the incredibly easy access to sports betting via smartphones has meant that leagues have received huge sponsorship fees (in modern parlance, “partnerships”) from online betting companies. The floodgates were opened to accept. These outfits are desperate to attract new customers in a highly competitive industry, and most leagues and teams will sell anything to them, including advertising on the court, on the ice, or on the boards. For player jerseys and helmets. And of course, the glorious sign: the Jumbotron.
The same goes for much of the sports media. In some ways, gambling ad revenue is keeping a struggling industry afloat. This is why it's almost impossible to watch a game without being exposed to ads for betting apps, sponsored gambling lines in the ticker at the bottom of the screen, and tense gambling “content” during studio segments. The same goes for sports radio shows, websites, and podcasts. Gambling cash seems to be controlling everything around us.
But at what cost in the long run? Moral considerations aside, it's clear that these gambling ads and “information” are offending some long-time fans. is. Maybe the league decided it was worth alienating these loyal customers for now, but at what point will they lose their connection forever?
On the other hand, the rise of sports betting and its increasing acceptance into mainstream society has steadily increased the number of problem gamblers. And it would be naive to think that athletes, coaches, referees, and those around them are unaffected.so it doesn't matter if There will probably be another scandal like Ohtani or Porter. when.
