Gambling has been part of the sports world for decades, although the amount of stakes has increased in recent years.
Dating back to 1919, eight members of the Chicago White Sox are credited with pitching in the World Series. A jury found them not guilty on the charges, but each player received a lifetime suspension from Major League Baseball.
Players, coaches and referees alike are under investigation for improper betting, point-cutting and other violations. The findings led to suspensions, bans, resignations, cancellations, dismissals, and numerous significant penalties.
The recent scandal involving Shohei Ohtani's interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, is just the latest story of complications that sports betting can pose to both amateur and professional athletes.
The biggest point-cutting scandal in college basketball history came to light in 1951. In all, the investigation found that 35 current and former players were involved in the scheme. City University of New York and Long Island University became less relevant, and the University of Kentucky, then coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp, canceled its 1952-53 season.
Unfortunately, Boston University has suffered two scandals.
First, the 1978-1979 basketball team underscored several games, and the conspiracy resulted in multiple prison sentences. In 1996, the BC football program suspended 13 players for making prohibited bets. Head coach Dan Henning and athletic director Chet Gradchuk resigned shortly after.
In the wake of the point-shaving scandal, Tulane disbanded its men's basketball program in 1985. The team he returned to in 1989.
Northwestern University similarly worked to cut points within its football and men's basketball teams. Four players from the 1994 football team were charged with perjury, and two players from the 1994-95 basketball team received one month in prison.
Most recently, Iowa State and Iowa State athletes pleaded guilty to underage gambling. While not much of a scandal in itself, the dozens of athletes involved served as a warning for current times.
In other words, athletes should not bet on anything.
Ahead of the 2023-24 season, the NHL suspended Shane Pinto for 41 games. Although the league found no evidence that he bet on NHL games, Pinto became the first player to violate the NHL's gambling regulations.
But that doesn't mean he's the first hockey player to be punished for gambling.
In 1946, the NHL ultimately suspended eventual Hall of Famer Babe Pratt for two weeks. Two years later, the league permanently banned Billy Taylor and Don Garinger for betting on NHL games.
Additionally, current Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet pleaded guilty to conspiracy and gambling promotion charges in 2007 while an assistant with the Phoenix Coyotes, but the league reinstated him in 2008.
The NFL has had some of the worst gambling news lately, but there's also a long history here. Two future Hall of Famers, Paul Hornung and Ted Karras, were suspended for the 1963 season, and Art Schlichter was penalized and missed the 1983 season.
In 2022, Calvin Ridley was suspended for one year for violating the NFL's gambling regulations.
The bright side? Ridley returned to the field with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2023 and racked up over 1,000 yards. He then signed a contract worth $50 million that guaranteed him joining the Tennessee Titans.
Last year, the league suspended 10 players, including seven indefinite suspensions for betting on NFL games.
The NBA has largely avoided the gambling problem so far, despite the latest Jontay Porter investigation, but the league's major stain is memorable.
An investigation revealed that Tim Donaghy, who had been a referee for more than a decade, had bet on matches he refereed from 2003 to 2007. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and transmit gambling information through interstate commerce.
Donaghy later accused the NBA of being corrupt in various ways and served an 11-month prison sentence. After review, federal prosecutors called his claims “baseless.”
About a year after the Cincinnati Reds celebrated a best-of-nine (you read that right) victory over the Chicago White Sox in the 1919 World Series, the scandal went from rumor to reality.
Even though the jury returned a not guilty verdict on all charges of conspiracy to defraud, eight players faced lifetime bans from baseball. This decision was made in 1921, when Kennesaw Mountain Landis became the league's commissioner.
In 1989, all-time hitting leader and Reds legend Pete Rose accepted a lifetime suspension after being accused of betting on MLB games, including one he played and managed in Cincinnati.
Rose remains ineligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, but the Reds inducted him into the franchise's Hall of Fame in 2016.