{"id":100343,"date":"2019-03-12T16:50:16","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T23:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=100343"},"modified":"2019-03-12T16:54:01","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T23:54:01","slug":"minor-league-exec-sees-major-problem-with-expanded-sports-betting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minor-league-exec-sees-major-problem-with-expanded-sports-betting\/","title":{"rendered":"Minor League Key Exec Sees Major Problem with Expanded Sports Betting"},"content":{"rendered":"

As more professional sports leagues look to partner with gaming entities, at least one entity is expressing concern about what expanded legal sports betting might do to its game.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. takes a swing during a Buffalo Bisons Triple-A baseball game last season. Minor League Baseball’s top executive said in a recent interview that he’s concerned about expanded sports betting and the impact it could have on games. (Image: MILB.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an interview with the Boston Herald<\/em>, Pat\u00a0O\u2019Conner, president and CEO of Minor League Baseball, said he\u2019s bracing for the day when his league will have to deal with a sports betting issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it may be local and small enough that it never rises to the level of a \u2018scandal,\u2019 but think about this,\u201d\u00a0O\u2019Conner\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re in A-ball, and you got a nice bonus but you\u2019re making $2,000 a month, and a guy comes to you and says, \u2018Hey kid, just the first pitch \u2014 throw the first pitch outside, that\u2019s all you need to do. You\u2019re going to throw a hundred more pitches before the night\u2019s out, just make sure the first\u00a0one\u2019s\u00a0outside.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

O\u2019Conner\u2019s concerns go beyond the thousands of athletes who play on feeder teams at various levels for the 30 Major League Baseball franchises. It includes the hundreds of umpires who officiate the games and the official scorers who make decisions that could affect the outcome of wagers placed on a game or an at-bat.<\/p>\n

Though Unlikely, Fixes Could Be Possible<\/h2>\n

A survey of sportsbooks showed few offer betting on minor league games. According to World Casino Index, the top option is Costa Rican outlet 5Dimes, which offers lines for the Pacific Coast League.<\/p>\n

Fan Duel does not offer\u00a0betting\u00a0on minor league baseball games at any of its sportsbooks, said Kevin Hennessy, the company\u2019s director of publicity.<\/p>\n

\n

Jeff Lantz — Minor League Baseball\u2019s senior director for communications — told Casino.org<\/em> the organization was not aware of any US books that take action on its games.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

However, there is a precedent for lower level games to be compromised.<\/p>\n

Ten years ago, European investigators determined that about 200 soccer games across the continent — including many second-division games — were part of an organized crime plot to fix games. Law enforcement determined that gangs reached out to players, coaches,\u00a0and officials as part of the endeavor.<\/p>\n

A separate investigation found a betting scandal influenced the outcome of matches in Italy\u2019s second- and third-division leagues.<\/p>\n

Lantz told Casino.org<\/em> that Minor League Baseball\u2019s penalties for any player or official caught betting on a game that involves them or who is caught trying to fix a game faces a lifetime ban, the same penalty as Major League Baseball.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minor Leagues Become Proactive<\/h2>\n

O\u2019Conner\u00a0told the Herald<\/em> that Minor League Baseball already plans to hire more personnel to oversee the games and ensure their integrity, adding that the organization was not enthusiastic about the steps sportsbooks and lawmakers have taken to address those issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to cost us a lot of\u00a0money,\u00a0because we are going to have put governance and oversight in place,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t wait until there\u2019s a problem before we start looking for issues. We\u2019re going to have to add staff, and that\u2019s fine — if that\u2019s where this country is going and that\u2019s what they want to do, we\u2019ll react to the environment that we\u2019re forced to play in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As more professional sports leagues look to partner with gaming entities, at least one entity is expressing concern about what expanded legal sports betting might do to its game. In an interview with the Boston Herald, Pat\u00a0O\u2019Conner, president and CEO of Minor League Baseball, said he\u2019s bracing for the day when his league will have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":100349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMinor League Exec Sees Major Problem with Expanded Sports Betting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Minor League Baseball\u2019s top executive said he worries that expanded sports betting will affect his sport, and the organization is already taking steps to ensure the integrity of the game.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minor League Exec Sees Major Problem with Expanded Sports Betting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Minor League Baseball\u2019s top executive said he worries that expanded sports betting will affect his sport, and the organization is already taking steps to ensure the integrity of the game.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minor-league-exec-sees-major-problem-with-expanded-sports-betting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-12T23:50:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-12T23:54:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Vladimir-Guerrero-Jr.-Minor-League-Baseball.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minor-league-exec-sees-major-problem-with-expanded-sports-betting\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minor-league-exec-sees-major-problem-with-expanded-sports-betting\/\",\"name\":\"Minor League Exec Sees Major Problem with Expanded Sports Betting\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minor-league-exec-sees-major-problem-with-expanded-sports-betting\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minor-league-exec-sees-major-problem-with-expanded-sports-betting\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Vladimir-Guerrero-Jr.-Minor-League-Baseball.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-12T23:50:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-12T23:54:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"Minor League Baseball\u2019s top executive said he worries that expanded sports betting will affect his sport, and the organization is already taking steps to ensure the integrity of the game.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minor-league-exec-sees-major-problem-with-expanded-sports-betting\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minor-league-exec-sees-major-problem-with-expanded-sports-betting\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minor-league-exec-sees-major-problem-with-expanded-sports-betting\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Vladimir-Guerrero-Jr.-Minor-League-Baseball.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Vladimir-Guerrero-Jr.-Minor-League-Baseball.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":540,\"caption\":\"Vladmir Guerrero Jr. takes a swing during a Buffalo Bisons Triple-A baseball game last season. 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