Front Burner

Ohtani, Porter and sport's gambling problem

As major sports leagues cozy up with betting apps, athletes have been getting caught up in gambling controversies. Could it threaten the future of their sports?
A male baseball player walks onto a field alongside a man wearing street clothes.
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, right, accused interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, left, of stealing money and lying to him in his first public comments since multiple reports of the interpreter's alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker on Monday. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

At a time when major sports leagues are embracing online betting, the MLB's biggest star and a player for the Toronto Raptors are now involved in gambling investigations. 

So what do we know about Shohei Ohtani and Jontay Porter? How could gambling partnerships be impacting fans and athletes? And have these leagues opened a Pandora's box of betting culture that could threaten the future of their sports?  

Declan Hill is an associate professor of investigations at the University of New Haven, an expert on match fixing and corruption, and the author of CrimeWaves on Substack. 

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