The Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) is working on its own investigation into the situation involving multiple Cleveland Guardians players.
Amid a separate Major League Baseball (MLB) probe, Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase are both on non-disciplinary paid leave until Aug. 31.
Ortiz was placed on leave in early July after outlets including ESPN reported that an unnamed sportsbook flagged suspicious wagers on the first pitches thrown by Ortiz in certain innings in games against the Seattle Mariners and the St. Louis Cardinals in June. The pitches in question both missed the strike zone.
Monitoring and integrity firm IC360 alerted sportsbooks and regulators after the unusual spike in action from betting accounts in not just Ohio but also New York and New Jersey. The OCCC wrote in a release on Aug. 13 that it was notified on June 30 by an Ohio licensed sportsbook of suspicious wagering activity on Guardians games and was also promptly contacted by MLB.
“Under the Commission’s statutory responsibilities, an independent investigation commenced,” wrote the commission on Wednesday, noting that it took similar action when it was notified in April 2023 of suspicious wagering activity on the University of Alabama baseball team.
“The Commission is working closely with Major League Baseball’s highly skilled investigative team as contemplated by Ohio law,” added the OCCC. “The Commission’s investigation is dedicated to safeguarding the integrity of sports wagering conducted in Ohio and we appreciate Major League Baseball’s efforts are directed at protecting the integrity of the game itself.”
The OCCC said it will not comment further on this “or related issues” until the investigation is concluded.
What happens next to Ohio prop bets?
It’s uncertain whether that definition of related issues includes the current furor about micro betting in the state.
On July 31, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued a public notice imploring the OCCC to “remove all prop bets from the Ohio marketplace,” directly referring to the Guardians situation.
“Governor DeWine noted a particular problem with micro prop bets–prop bets on highly specific events within games that are completely controlled by one player,” stated the release. But other parts of the release and a quote from DeWine himself called for a blanket ban on all prop bets.
The OCCC told SBC Americas on Aug. 1 that it was gathering information and would announce its next steps in the following days. Since then, there has been no public update directly from the commission on the issue of banning props.
But, last week, ESPN’s David Purdum reported that the OCCC is mulling a prohibition on certain bets, including wagering markets on first pitches in MLB innings, like the ones that are under the microscope regarding Ortiz. The regulator’s Executive Director Matt Schuler told Purdum that the OCCC intends to draft a rule that bans some player-specific prop bets.
The rule would need approval from both the OCCC and the Ohio legislature before going into effect.
DeWine is trying to rally sports leagues and players’ unions to the cause. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters earlier this summer that certain types of wager are unecessary and vulnerable to manipulation. “Things where it’s one single act don’t affect the outcome necessarily, we should continue to think about that,” he noted. “Do we really need that last kind of bet?”
