MLB gambling scandal: Padres’ Tucupita Marcano banned for life for betting on baseball games

San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano has been permanently banned from Major League Baseball after violating the league’s gambling policy, MLB announced Tuesday. Marcano’s suspension was accompanied by one-year suspensions for four other players, including Oakland Athletics reliever Michael Kelly and minor leaguers Jay Groome (Padres pitcher), José Rodríguez (Philadelphia Phillies pitcher) and Andrew Saalfrank (Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher).

MLB revealed that it received data from a legal sports betting operator about baseball gambling activity from accounts belonging to the above players. According to MLB rules, personnel are permitted to participate in sports gambling as long as it is legal in their jurisdiction and they do not bet on diamond sports – that is, baseball or softball. Each player violated the second part of this.

MLB’s press release revealed the following as part of its investigation into Marcano’s play:

In total, Marcano bet more than $150,000 on baseball, with $87,319 on MLB-related bets (an average of approximately $378 per bet). Of the more than 200 MLB bets Marcano placed during this period, 25 of those bets included Pirates games while he was assigned to the Pirates’ Major League Club. Marcano did not appear in any of the games he placed bets on, however, because all of Marcano’s Pirates-related bets, and the vast majority of his bets in general, occurred during the period after he suffered a knee injury late in the season. season, in July. October 24, 2023 and was receiving medical treatment at PNC Park.

Marcano, 24, was signed by the Padres as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela in 2016. He was traded to the Pirates in 2021 with Jack Suwinski for Adam Frazier and last November returned to the Padres on waivers. He did not play in 2024 due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

MLB rules stipulate that players can legally play non-diamond sports, but cannot bet on baseball or softball at any level. A player caught playing for teams other than his own faces a one-year suspension for the first offense and a lifetime ban if he is found to have played for his own team, as Marcano was found to have done.

“Strict enforcement of Major League Baseball rules and policies governing the conduct of the game is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for fans,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “The long-standing prohibition of betting on Major League Baseball games by those who play the sport has been a fundamental principle for more than a century. We have made clear that the privilege of playing baseball carries a responsibility to refrain from engaging in on certain types of behavior that are legal for others Since the Supreme Court ruling opened the door to legalized sports betting, we have been working with licensed sports betting operators and other third parties to put ourselves in a better position from an integrity standpoint through of transparency that a regulated sports betting system can provide. MLB will continue to invest heavily in integrity monitoring, educational programming and awareness initiatives with the goal of ensuring strict adherence to this fundamental rule of our game.

At the beginning of this season, Ippei Mizuhara – former interpreter of Shohei Ohtani – was accused of stealing more than $16 million of Ohtani to pay gambling debts to an illegal bookie. He faces a maximum of 33 years in prison. Braves minor leaguer David Fletcher is also being investigated by MLB for placing bets with the same illegal bookmaker that Mizuhara used. Neither Mizuhara nor Fletcher would have bet on baseball, but betting on any sport through illegal channels is also prohibited by MLB.