Gambling is Illegal at Bushwood, Sir.
MLB just can't quit itself
Glad you’re here. Today is a great day to give a Gift Subscription to your sports-loving friend.
The folks at Major League Baseball yesterday blew out one of the game’s finest umpires because of a fairly obvious, remarkably irresponsible and totally trackable association with sports betting. And by the way, be sure to mention the code words “obvious” and “irresponsible” on your next visit to FanDuel Sportsbook to receive a $20 credit while you bet on the Braves-Phillies game!
FanDuel: Official Sports Betting Partner of Major League Baseball since 2023.
Yes, baseball has a betting problem.
But on which side?
The fired umpire, Pat Hoberg, was widely regarded as the best home plate ump in MLB, famous for receiving a 100 percent accuracy rating for Game 2 of the 2022 World Series, in which he called all 129 balls and strikes correctly.
Hoberg, 38, also happened to be a guy who liked his sports bets, and it was his sharing of a couple of sports betting accounts with a professional poker-playing buddy that led to his downfall. The buddy wanted to place bets on games via his cell phone when he was in Iowa, where Hoberg lived and where online sports betting became legal in 2019. But in Iowa, you can only place such bets on a phone that is registered in the state. So, according to MLB’s investigation, this man got Hoberg to sign on to two of the guy’s betting accounts via Hoberg’s Iowa-originated cell phone.
Both of them went on to use the accounts to place bets, sharing the sign-ins and passwords.
They placed plenty of bets. Lots. Hundreds of them, totaling roughly $700,000, over about three years.
Did Hoberg bet on baseball?