MLB Betting Scandal Sends Ripples Through the Industry

Major League Baseball has announced it is capping betting limits on micro-betting that rocked the league when Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are alleged to have conspired to fix outcomes in the pitch-by-pitch betting markets.

Guardrails in Place

Sports betting powerhouses, including BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, and FanDuel, have agreed to cap limits on micro-bet wagers at $200 and ban them from being parlayed.

This manifested due to the betting scandal that found Cleveland Guardians’ pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz fixing the markets by throwing predetermined pitches that guaranteed a win in those markets in which bets were made on their pitches during the 2023 and 2025 seasons.

The suspicious betting activity was uncovered by integrity monitor IC360, a company that works with professional sports leagues to ferret out unusual wagering patterns that could be construed as a premeditative attempt to rig those micro-betting markets that are peculiar to an individual’s performance.

The new rule will impact more than 98% of the US-licensed sports betting market and will bring scrutiny to these individual performance-based wagers.

Ohio Gov Seeks Micro-Betting Rule Changes

Last July, when the investigation into Cleveland’s pitchers began to circulate, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine called on the Ohio Casino Control Commission to curb micro-betting by removing the prop bets entirely from all sportsbook operators’ betting menus.

It is not clear how far the rule changes will be implemented, considering prop bets are a cash cow for the operators and account for roughly 50% of the handle. If micro-betting is taken off the table, the handle will fall.

However, if all player props are banned, it could have a substantial impact not only on the sportsbooks’ revenues but also on the tax dollars the state receives because of them.