Current Events > MLB's embrace of gambling has resulted in increased harrassment of its players

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2024/06/09/ mlb-players-starting-to-fear-for-their-safety-from-gamblers/74028741007/

"You hear it all, man," Arizona Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald told USA TODAY Sports. "You blow a save, you dont come through, you get it all. (Expletive) you. You suck. You cost me all of this money.

(Expletive) you. (Expletive) your family. Im going to kill you and then kill your family.

"It gets ugly really quickly. Its scary, and its sad. It used to be fans who were upset because you blew the game for the team, but now its gambling. These people dont really care about the Diamondbacks. They just care about their bets, and were talking about money they dont have that they are losing. So, its a very scary spot."

One MLB general manager told USA TODAY Sports that he received death threats delivered directly to his house, requiring police protection.

"I remember being followed home one time when I was playing for Cleveland," Diamondbacks reliever Logan Allen said. "I had a really bad game, and this guy follows me home, and starts cussing at me, telling me I cost him all of this money.

"Its scary."

The Major League Baseball Players Association began publicly voicing concerns about player safety after a Supreme Court decision that ultimately opened the door for it to become legal to gamble on sporting events in 38 states and the District of Columbia, with teams constructing sports-betting sites outside their ballparks. The union negotiated Amendment 61 to the collective bargaining agreement requiring teams to be proactive in curbing fans aggressive behavior towards players.

"Clubs shall include in their fan policies a prohibition against betting-related, abusive fan speech and behavior that is directed at players, players family members, club personnel or umpires.

"The parties will jointly develop a safety hotline for players to report any threats, potentially threatening communications or other inappropriate sports better-related conduct or contact that a player or any member his family received related to sports better (e.g., social media messages threatening violence as retribution for a gamblers losses.)"

The amendments also restrict teams from placing gambling information on their scoreboard before and during games: "No betting lines on player-specific performance or other player-specific betting-related information may be displayed on in-stadium videoboards or other in-stadium signage during a game or during pre-game warm-ups."

Yet, as the players will tell you, no scoreboard is needed with fans constantly reminding them about the odds, prop bets and parlays while theyre on the field before games.

And if your team doesnt win, or you fail to hold up your end of the prop bet, guess who hears about it?

"You get some messed up stuff, a lot of nasty DMs (direct social media messages)," San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb said. "People are really passionate about teams, and now that you add money to it, its bigger than ever.
"My first year, there wasnt that much gambling going on. It was just , 'Oh, you suck. You shouldnt be on the team. Just things like that.

"Now, youre getting, 'You just cost me money. They say some (messed) up (expletive). I get a lot of that with strikeouts. 'Hey, I got money on you for strikeouts. Are you going to hit it?

"I always look up and say, 'Probably not.

"There are times it gets pretty serious."

When players like Giants third baseman Matt Chapman and Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker come to the plate, instead of their own fans cheering for them to get a hit, fans will remind them they have them in their parlay, and they better hit a home run or at least a double.

"People are always talking (expletive)," Walker said. Youre in the on-deck circle, and someones like, 'Come on, I need you. I need plus-2. Hit a double for me.

"People have their phones out as the game happens now. Its not a situation anymore where you place a bet before the game, and then youre at the mercy of it (the bet) the whole game. Its real time as innings are unfolding and they make little prop bets.

"I can show you my DMs that are full with people talking (expletive), saying how you cost them money and saying some nasty (expletive). Thats part of it. It shouldnt be part of it. But it is part of professional sports now."

It has become so appalling that fans are now requesting payment from players for their lost wages in bets.

"Fans used to just say normal things like, 'Youre a bum," said Chapman, a seven-year veteran. "Now, that they have all that money on us, fans will talk a lot of (expletive) to us. Ill even have fans Venmo requesting me for money. I had to change my Venmo."

Said Giants veteran reliever Tyler Rogers: "I had to make my Venmo private because Id blow a game or something, and people would find me on Venmo, and theyd send me requests. 'Hey, you cost me $1,500. You better pay me back.'

"It definitely gets people a lot more upset than it used to."

Chicago White Sox outfielder Tommy Pham spends time at the Las Vegas casinos in the offseason, and sees how gambling has dramatically changed fans acrimony in recent years, particularly from those who are betting beyond their financial means.

"Its getting completely out hand," Pham said. "As a Blackjack gambler myself, you shouldnt bet on anything youre not prepared to lose, but we know that doesnt happen, and it brings out all of these keyboard warriors.
"Its getting worse and worse."

Frankly, its terrifying.

Benjamin Tucker Patz, a 24-year-old sports gambler, plead guilty in 2021 for sending a string of social media messages to four players on the Tampa Bay Rays and one player on the White Sox after a 2019 game the Rays lost.

Heres a sampling of the horrifying messages to one Rays player:
"I will sever your neck open you pathetic (expletive)."
"I will enter your home while you sleep, and sever your neck open."
"I will kill your entire family."
"Everyone you love will soon cease."
"I will cut up your family."
"Dismember them alive.
Patz also sent threats to players on Atlanta, San Diego, Oakland, Cleveland, Baltimore, Kansas City and Toronto.
So what was Patzs punishment when he plead guilty?
Three years of probation and six months of home confinement. Not a single day of jail time.

Good job, Rob!

Hmm almost like betting should be banned

hockeybabe89 posted...

Hmm almost like betting should be banned

Because people are saying mean things? Really?

whitelytning posted...

Because people are saying mean things? Really?

The death threats and also the fact that multiple players have been involved in gambling scandals this season alone. It's a powder keg that will only get bigger the more MLB (and other major sports leagues) embraces the industry.

Antifar posted...

The death threats and also the fact that multiple players have been involved in gambling scandals this season alone. It's a powder keg that will only get bigger the more MLB (and other major sports leagues) embraces the industry.

Its crazy man. Like if people arent seeing how bad this is then thats on them. We just had the first player banned in baseball for betting on his own team since Pete Rose in 1989 and like 4-5 other players suspended! Thats unheard of.

Not to mention what ever has happened with Shohei. Like that whole story is fishy.

It's almost like gambling is a cancer on the soul of humanity.

No surprise, gambling is inherently corrupting so of course its directly leading to more assholes and criminal behavior by fans.

hell, fucking fantasy sports had a negative impact on idiots being too emotionally invested in otherwise meaningless statpadding.

Seeing the gambling garbage shoehorned into every MLB program nowadays is pretty pathetic. Even live updates on parlays throughout the games are getting tiresome.

It's always someone else's fault when a gambler loses.
"You stole my card"
"You rolled the dice wrong"
"You blew a save"

whitelytning posted...

Because people are saying mean things? Really?

Death threats are more than just mean things being said.

I didn't keep up with this, but what was the reason they embraced gambling?

pazzy posted...

I didn't keep up with this, but what was the reason they embraced gambling?

In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down a previously-existing law that prevented most states from authorizing legal sports betting (Nevada had been one of the previous exceptions). Leagues like MLB have seen sponsorship from gambling companies as a lucrative new revenue stream, and a means to replace revenue lost from the collapse of regional cable sports networks in many markets. Simultaneously, broadcasters like ESPN have been happy to implement gambling coverage as a means of boosting interest in their product.

pazzy posted...

I didn't keep up with this, but what was the reason they embraced gambling?

To make more money

whitelytning posted...

Because people are saying mean things? Really?

Because it's a cancer on people and on sports

I view it like the tobacco industry. Sure, people are making their own choices, but some no one should be able to make money off turning you into a slave to their dangerous product.

Antifar posted...

In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down a previously-existing law that prevented most states from authorizing legal sports betting (Nevada had been one of the previous exceptions). Leagues like MLB have seen sponsorship from gambling companies as a lucrative new revenue stream, and a means to replace revenue lost from the collapse of regional cable sports networks in many markets. Simultaneously, broadcasters like ESPN have been happy to implement gambling coverage as a means of boosting interest in their product.

Ah, sheesh. That is actually really scary.

hockeybabe89 posted...

To make more money

Well yeah, but there had to be an actual reason like antifar was saying.

Bump

I have a feeling this is just going to get uglier and uglier. Just a matter of time before a point shaving scandal.

Umbreon posted...

Death threats are more than just mean things being said.

Yeah but for some reason half of modern society seems to be like "Its just words bro!"

For some reason people just treat "I'm going to kill you!" as just random harmless talk.

There is significant overlap between these sorts of people and the ones who say "it was just a peaceful demonstration at the capital!" after they literally build a gallows.

Lol @ people who gamble

Gambling at BEST should be treated how we treat tobacco. No advertising, no integration with the leagues, no nothing.

Capitalism has a recurring habit of making people forget that things were considered dangerous vices for a reason, beyond just moralizing, all in pursuit of dollar signs. Opioids, gambling, even porn and alcohol have all been normalized in a way that has lacked safeguards that got in the way of money.

Sorry I wasn't aware that gambling was invented the moment MLB embraced

whitelytning posted...

Because people are saying mean things? Really?

no not that, but the leagues can manipulate officiating and drafts to appease draft kings

UndefeatedGOAT posted...

no not that, but the leagues can manipulate officiating and drafts to appease draft kings

I cannot imagine something they would have less interest in doing. Any hint of manipulation throws the gambling market out the window; every bet is placed on the presumption of these things being fair contests.

Antifar posted...

I cannot imagine something they would have less interest in doing. Any hint of manipulation throws the gambling market out the window; every bet is placed on the presumption of these things being fair contests.

An awful lot of people break the rules because they think they know how to get away with it

Nothing was worse than the early/mid 2010s of fantasy being legal and betting on teams wasnt.

Round the clock coverage of fantasy lineups instead of the actual game, you had to hear about everyones dumb fantasy team, and all anger was directed at the individual players without proxy.