Sports

2 gambling scandals are now threatening pro sports, and the problems may run deeper – CBC Sports

Published

8 months ago

March 26, 2024

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Yesterday in Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani issued his first public comments since last week’s explosive news that the Dodgers had fired the Japanese superstar’s longtime interpreter after some investigative reporters asked why $4.5 million US had been wired from Ohtani’s bank account to an illicit bookmaking operation.

The interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, initially explained that he’d asked Ohtani to pay off his gambling debts for him. But Ohtani’s lawyers denied that, claiming Ohtani was instead “the victim of a massive theft” by his friend, and Mizuhara changed his story to match. As Major League Baseball announced it was opening an investigation, fans spent the weekend wondering what the truth really was. Did the sport’s biggest star actually get robbed by his pal? Or just help him out of a jam? And what about the reverse (and much darker) possibility: was Mizuhara taking a bullet for Ohtani?

According to Ohtani, it was a theft. Sitting next to a new interpreter yesterday in front of a packed room of reporters and reading in Japanese from prepared notes, Ohtani said he has never gambled on sports and did not instruct Mizuhara to wire money from his bank account to a bookie. “Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has been telling lies,” Ohtani said through the new interpreter. “I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf.” He did not take questions.

WATCH | Ohtani claims he was victim of theft by friend, interpreter Mizuhara:

Shohei Ohtani addresses gambling scandal, says he’s the victim

1 day ago

Duration 2:04

L.A. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is addressing the gambling scandal involving his former interpreter. Ohtani says he has never bet on sports, claiming Ippei Mizuhara stole millions from his accounts to cover his gambling debts.

At about the same time Ohtani gave his statement, ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that Toronto Raptors centre Jontay Porter was under investigation by the NBA due to “irregularities on prop betting involving him.”

If you’re not familiar, prop (short for proposition) betting involves wagering on things like whether a certain player will score over or under, say, 14.5 points in a particular game. Or get over or under 5.5 rebounds. Or 3.5 assists, etc. You get the idea.

It may surprise you that bookmakers would offer props on someone as insignificant as Porter, a fringe NBA player who’s averaging about four points, three rebounds and a couple of assists in 14 minutes per game this season for the struggling Raptors. But player props are popular with novice gamblers, making them a big profit centre for sports-betting apps like DraftKings, FanDuel and the like that cater to such (mostly money-losing) bettors.

According to ESPN’s reporting, two Porter games — on Jan. 26 vs. the L.A. Clippers and March 20 vs. Sacramento — raised red flags. In both instances, bookmakers noticed a sharp increase in action on the “unders” for various Porter props. And those unders paid out after Porter left both games early for medical reasons. He cited an eye injury after playing just four minutes against the Clippers with zero points, three rebounds and one assist, and an illness after only three minutes against Sacramento with no points, no assists and two rebounds.

ESPN reported that a sportsbook industry source said multiple betting accounts tried to bet large amounts on Porter unders for the Clippers game — “upward of $10,000 and $20,000,” though bettors are typically limited to a thousand bucks or two on such bets. Porter’s salary with the Raptors this season is $415,000. But it’s a two-way contract, meaning he makes less if he’s demoted to a minor-league team.

The Porter controversy lacks the staggering dollar figures of Ohtani’s, but it’s arguably much worse. In Ohtani’s case, it’s plausible that his interpreter indeed simply stole from him and Ohtani has never placed a bet (or asked someone to place a bet for him) with an illegal bookie. And no evidence has emerged tying Ohtani to betting on baseball. But there seems to be pretty compelling circumstantial evidence that Porter may have manipulated his stats in those two games in question. If that turns out to be the truth, it cuts to the very core of the NBA’s integrity — even to the essence of pro sports itself. If fans don’t believe that games are on the level, the whole thing falls apart.

Toronto Raptors centre Jontay Porter is reportedly under investigation for betting on games. The team offered no comment on the report on Monday. (David Zalubowski/The Associated Press)

The Ohtani and Porter scandals are the two biggest stories in North American sports right now, and for good reason. But they’re also making us forget a bunch of other troubling gambling-related items that made headlines just this month.

On March 10, the NBA fined Minnesota Timberwolves centre Rudy Gobert $100,000 US for mocking a referee’s technical-foul call on him by doing that “money” gesture where you rub your thumb and two fingers together, implying that ref Scott Foster was paid off. Later, Gobert said he believes the recent proliferation of sports betting is having an impact on the outcome of games. “I think it’s hurting our game,” Gobert said. “I know the betting and all that is becoming bigger and bigger, but it shouldn’t feel that way.”

Last week, Tyrese Haliburton, one of the NBA’s rising young stars, vented to reporters about the dehumanizing effect that gambling can have on players. “To half the world, I’m just helping them make money on DraftKings or whatever,” the Indiana Pacers guard said. “I’m the prop, you know what I mean? That’s what my social media mostly consists of.”

The following night, Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff revealed that he’s been threatened by gamblers. “They got my telephone number and were sending me crazy messages about where I live and my kids and all that stuff,” Bickerstaff said.

The Cavs’ home arena now contains a sportsbook. And, of course, fans in most U.S. states as well as Ontario can legally place bets on the gambling apps right on their phones. Bickerstaff lamented how that’s changed the way people watch games and treat players and coaches. “It’s crossed the line,” Bickerstaff said. “The amount of times where I’m standing up there and we may have a 10-point lead and the spread is 11 and people are yelling at me to leave the guys in so that we can cover the spread, it’s ridiculous.”

WATCH | Ohtani’s interpreter fired following theft, gambling allegations:

Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter fired after alleged illegal gambling, theft from superstar

5 days ago

Duration 2:01

Shohei Ohtani’s long-time friend and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers after allegations of illegal gambling totalling several million dollars. Initial reports said the MLB superstar paid off that debt, but there are now accusations the money was stolen.

Gambling controversies aren’t limited to the NBA and MLB. Several NFL players have been suspended recently for betting on the league’s games — including star receiver Calvin Ridley, who sat out a full year. In October, the NHL banned Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto for 41 games for unspecified “activities relating to sports wagering,” though the league was sure to include that it “found no evidence” he bet on the NHL.

I want to avoid moralizing too much here, especially because I’ve been betting on sports since I was a kid, but all of these stories speak to a certain rot in the whole sports-industrial complex.

The widespread legalization of sports betting in North America, combined with incredibly easy access to it via smartphones, opened the floodgates for leagues to accept oceans of sponsorship money (or “partnerships,” in the parlance of our times) from online betting companies. These outfits are desperate to attract new customers in an extremely competitive industry, and most leagues and teams will sell them anything — including ads right on the court, ice or boards; on players’ jerseys and helmets; and of course on the glorified billboard that is the Jumbotron.

Much of the sports media is no better. In some ways, gambling ad money is keeping the struggling industry afloat. Which is why you can hardly watch a game anymore without being bombarded with ads for betting apps, sponsored gambling lines in the ticker at the bottom of the screen and strained betting “content” during studio segments. It’s much the same on sports radio shows, websites and podcasts. Gambling cash seems to rule everything around us.

But at what long-term cost? Leaving aside the moral element for a second, all these gambling ads and “information” are clearly turning off some longtime fans. Maybe the leagues have decided it’s worth it to alienate these loyal customers for now, but at what point do they lose the connection for good?

Meanwhile, the rise of sports betting and its increased acceptance in mainstream society has surely created more problem gamblers. And it would be naive to think athletes, coaches, referees and the people around them are immune. So it’s not a question of if there’s another Ohtani- or Porter-like scandal coming, but� when.

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NHL roundup: Hurricanes beat Flyers 6-4 for seventh straight win

Published

16 hours ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Martin Necas scored a go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on Tuesday night.

It was the seventh straight win for the Hurricanes, who also got goals from Jack Roslovic, Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake. Seth Jarvis added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Necas typically saves his game-winners for overtime, with nine in his career, but he was able to take care of business in regulation with his team-best seventh goal of the season.

Travis Konecny scored two goals and had two assists for the Flyers. Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia.

Aleksei Kolosov made 28 saves for the Flyers, who trailed 2-1, 3-1 and 4-3 but kept coming back. Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov struggled in net allowing four goals on just 16 shots.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

—

SABRES 5 SENATORS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bowen Byram and Tage Thompson scored 16 seconds apart to open the third period, and Buffalo snapped a three-game skid with a win over Ottawa.

Byram scored twice, JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves.

Ridly Greig converted his own rebound in cutting Buffalo’s lead to 2-1 with 7:31 left in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in dropping to 1-4 in his past five starts.

Buffalo went up 3-1 on Byram’s second goal 21 seconds into the third period. The defenceman’s shot from inside the blue line sneaked through Ullmark, with the puck rolling down the goalie’s pad, dropping into the crease and trickling across the line. Thompson scored when he crashed the net, was knocked over by defender Jake Sanderson and was lying in the crease when Alex Tuch’s shot went in off his shoulder.

—

MAPLE LEAFS 4 BRUINS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in Toronto’s 4-0 victory over Boston.

Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Toronto connected three times on the power play. William Nylander and Matthew Knies added a goal and an assist each. Mitch Marner had two assists of his own. Steven Lorentz rounded out the scoring into the empty net.

The Leafs played without captain Auston Matthews, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jeremy Swayman made 23 stops for Boston, which was coming off consecutive weekend shutouts of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

Toronto’s porous 31st-ranked power play scored for the second time in as many games at 8:44 of the second period when Rielly fired through a screen. Nylander banked in his team-leading 10th goal of the season on another man advantage 1:14 later for a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins entered the game 8-0-0 in the regular season against their Atlantic Division rival dating back to Jan. 14, 2023.

—

FLAMES 3 CANADIENS 2 (OT)

MONTREAL (AP) — Matt Coronato scored twice as Calgary came back to defeat Montreal in overtime.

Coronato tied the game with 2:46 remaining in regulation when he cruised into the slot and went off the post and in. He then buried the winning goal seven seconds into the extra period.

Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, which won its second game in seven outings. Dustin Wolf stopped 21 shots.

Joel Armia — with a short-handed goal — and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (4-7-2). Armia also provided an assist, while Sam Montembeault made 32 saves as the Canadiens’ losing streak extended to four games.

Zary opened the scoring with his third 4:20 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Montembeault.

Gallagher then slipped the puck between Wolf’s pads at 16:23 to level the score with his fifth of the season.

—

BLUES 3 LIGHTNING 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist scored to help St. Louis beat Tampa Bay 3-2.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for his 149th career win moving him past Jake Allen for second place in franchise history, just two wins behind Mike Liut’s 151.

Nick Perbix and Victor Hedman scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning who have lost three straight games.

Kyrou scored his fourth goal of the season 8:51 into the third period to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Toropchenko scored his first goal of the season with 1:35 remaining in the second period to put St. Louis ahead 2-1 after Sundqvist tied the game with his first of the season 7:47 into the period.

—

ISLANDERS 4 PENGUINS 3 (SO)

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the only goal in a shootout and New York rallied past Pittsburgh 4-3.

New York goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang in the shootout and finished with 32 saves. Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who trailed 3-1 midway through the third period.

Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third for New York. Horvat had two assists.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to lead Pittsburgh. Crosby got his 598th career goal, and Michael Bunting also scored. Rakell added two assists.

Alex Nedeljkovich stopped 23 shots for the Penguins, who have lost seven of nine. They won their previous two following a six-game skid.

—

KINGS 5 WILD 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Trevor Lewis scored twice, Kevin Fiala added another on the power play and Los Angeles beat Minnesota 5-1.

Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield also scored for Los Angeles, which was playing the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-0 win in Nashville a night earlier. David Rittich made 23 saves for the Kings.

Fiala, who was traded to Los Angeles in 2022 by Minnesota for a first-round pick draft pick and defenceman Brock Faber, scored his seventh goal of the season. He now has three goals and six assists in his last seven games against the Wild.

Minnesota, which had won three in a row, opened the scoring in the second period on Zach Bogosian’s first goal of the season. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for the Wild.

—

JETS 3 UTAH 0

WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter scored twice in his 900th NHL career game and Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help Winnipeg defeat Utah 3-0.

It was Hellebuyck’s second shutout of the season and 39th of this career.

Gabriel Vilardi also scored for the Jets. Adam Lowry assisted on both goals by Niederreiter.

Utah ended a run of picking up points in three consecutive games (1-0-2).

Karel Vejmelka stopped 25 shots for Utah in its second stop on a four-game road trip.

Jets winger Kyle Connor had his franchise-record, season-opening points streak end at 12 games.

—

AVALANCHE 6 KRAKEN 3

DENVER (AP) — Arturri Lehkonen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in his season debut and Nathan MacKinnon had five assists as Colorado beat Seattle 6-3.

Mikko Rantanen added two goals for the Avalanche, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Chris Wagner also scored for Colorado.

Cale Makar had two assists but the star defenceman barely played in the second half of the game and appeared to be slowed by an apparent injury during a brief shift.

MacKinnon and Makar extended their season-opening point streaks to 13 games.

Lehkonen played for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.

Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken.

—

CANUCKS 5 DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist apiece, and Quinn Hughes recorded his 300th career assist in Vancouver’s victory over Anaheim.

Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson also scored and Hughes had three assists for the Canucks, who have won six of eight. Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in Vancouver’s sixth consecutive win over the Ducks.

Olen Zellweger scored a power-play goal early in the first period for Anaheim, which has lost seven of nine. Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko took shots from teammates again after the morning skate, and he could return to practice this week. The Southern California native and 2023-24 Vezina Trophy finalist hasn’t played this season due to a knee injury incurred late last season.

—

SHARKS 2 BLUE JACKETS 1 (OT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Wennberg scored 3:11 into overtime and San Jose celebrated the return of No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini with a win over Columbus.

Defenceman Jack Thompson scored his first career goal for the Sharks (4-8-2), who entered the night with the worst record in the NHL. San Jose has won four of five.

Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, missed 12 games with a hip injury he sustained in the season opener Oct. 10 — an injury first incurred during the pre-season. Celebrini didn’t score and missed a shot early in overtime.

San Jose goalie Vitek Vanacek was fantastic in net, making 49 saves.

Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko scored for the second consecutive game. Columbus (5-6-1) has lost three straight.

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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

Published

2 days ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.

The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.

The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.

Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

Published

2 days ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.

The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.

Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.

KEY MOMENT

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.

KEY RETURN?

Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.

OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN

The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.

The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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