Tucupita Marcano faces MLB ban for betting on baseball – The Washington Post

Mere months after a sports betting scandal enveloped Shohei Ohtani and his now-former interpreter, Major League Baseball has another on its hands.

This one involves Tucupita Marcano, an infielder with the San Diego Padres whom MLB is investigating for betting on baseball, a person familiar with the situation said Monday, confirming a Wall Street Journal report. MLB rules explicitly prohibit betting on baseball, which means Marcano, a 24-year-old from Venezuela, could face a lifetime ban and become the first since Pete Rose to face such consequences for betting on his sport.

Marcano allegedly bet on Pittsburgh Pirates games while a member of that organization last year, according to the Wall Street Journal, which alleged the betting occurred while he was sidelined with a torn ACL. There are no concerns that Marcano influenced Pirates games to help make good on his bets, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

We are aware of the matter thats under investigation and are fully cooperating, the Pirates said in a statement Monday. We will refrain from further comment at this time.

We are aware of an active investigation by Major League Baseball regarding a matter that occurred when the player in question was a member of another organization and not affiliated with the San Diego Padres, the Padres said in a statement. We will not have any further comment until the investigative process has been completed.

MLB declined to comment, and Marcanos agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Marcano began his MLB career with San Diego in 2021. After two seasons with Pittsburgh, he rejoined the Padres this past offseason but has yet to appear in a game while on the injured list. In his MLB career, he has played in 149 games with a .217 batting average and five home runs.

The Marcano investigation is just baseballs latest concern amid the widespread legalization of sports gambling in the United States. The issue exploded into public view in March when news broke that Ohtanis interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, had siphoned millions away from the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar to pay off gambling debts. Mizuhara has since agreed to plead guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return.

An investigation of the alleged bookie, Mathew Bowyer, who purportedly took Mizuharas bets led to MLB opening an investigation of former Los Angeles Angels infielder David Fletcher, currently a minor leaguer in the Atlanta Braves organization. MLB allows players to bet on other sports, but betting with an illegal bookie is punishable by a suspension.

Rose, MLBs all-time hits leader, was blacklisted in 1989 when he was managing the Cincinnati Reds. He remains the most high-profile example of a person within the game handed that fate in recent decades, and he has been kept out of the Hall of Fame because of it.

Though MLB plasters clubhouse doors with warnings against betting on baseball and ensures teams spend spring training mornings drilling that rule into the players heads, it has never been easier to bet on a game. And MLB has never put betting on its games more front and center than it is now, when odds, prop bets and ads for sportsbooks saturate every broadcast.

Read the original here:

Tucupita Marcano faces MLB ban for betting on baseball - The Washington Post