Ross D. Franklin/AP
The MLB on Tuesday announced that San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano has been banned for life for placing “hundreds” of bets of baseball games.
According to the league, Marcano placed 387 baseball bets through a legal sportsbook between 2022 and 2023. Of those bets, 231 were on MLB games. Marcano bet more than $150,000 during that period.
While he was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Marcano placed 25 bets on the team. He didn’t play in any of those games because he suffered a season-ending injury.
“The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies governing gambling conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans,” said Commissioner Rob Manfred in the league’s statement. “The longstanding prohibition against betting on Major League Baseball games by those in the sport has been a bedrock principle for over a century. We have been clear that the privilege of playing in baseball comes with a responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain types of behavior that are legal for other people.”
As noted by ESPN, Marcano is the first active MLB player to receive a lifetime ban for betting on games since New York Giants outfielder Jimmy O’Connell in 1924. Though Pete Rose is arguably the most famous example of being banned for gambling, he did so while he was a manager for the Cincinnati Reds.
The news of Marcano’s lifetime ban comes less than two months after the NBA issued its own ban to former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter.
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