MLB bets on MGM in new deal

MGM Resorts International became Major League Baseball’s official gambling partner in the U.S. and Japan, a deal made as the sport tries to ensure more prevalent legal sports betting does not lead to any scandals of the type sparked by illegal wagers in its past.

“Over the past 18 months we’ve had various senior people in the office involved various aspects of the sports gaming project,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said at Tuesday’s announcement. “I think that we have ensured ourselves on the integrity front by updating our policies, making clear what employees and players can and cannot do on the one hand, and on the other developing clear guidelines for the commercial activity that central baseball, meaning Major League Baseball will engage in and similarly the kind of commercial activities that will be allowed on the club level, as well.”

The U.S. Supreme Court in May overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which had prohibited every state but Nevada from allowing betting on most sporting events.

Baseball was plagued by betting scandals in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the biggest a thrown World Series in 1919 that led to lifetime bans for eight Chicago “Black Sox” players imposed by the first baseball commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Major League Rule 21 specifies “any player, umpire or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one year” and adds the penalty for betting on a game in which the “bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”

That led to the 1989 investigation of then-Cincinnati manager Pete Rose. The probe concluded Rose bet on the Reds to win with illegal bookmakers, and the career hits leader agreed to a lifetime ban.

“There are actually two policies that will be ready for the distribution to the clubs in the relatively near future,” Manfred said. “We’re not prepared to distribute them today.”

He said the policies were discussed at last week’s owners’ meeting and that final revisions were being made.

MGM will become an MLB-authorized gambling operator and will promote itself with teams and on the MLB Network, MLB.com and the MLB At Bat app. Manfred said MGM will have a presence at baseball’s top events.