As legalized gambling continues to spread, plenty of strange situations will emerge.
Baseball star Shohei Ohtani, who signed with the L.A. Dodgers after six years with the L.A. Angels, finds himself in the middle of a bizarre set of facts.
Via Tisha Thompson of ESPN.com, Ohtani fired his interpreter on Wednesday afternoon in the midst of questions regarding the transfer of $4.5 million in Ohtani’s funds to an illegal bookmaking operation.
My own pasta-and-meatballs gut reaction to the story is that Ohtani himself might have been doing the gambling, and that the interpreter is taking the fall. (That’s not a statement of fact. It’s my own opinion based on circumstantial evidence. And it merits further investigation by Major League Baseball, if MLB is so inclined.)
The official story is that the interpreter incurred the debts and that Ohtani decided to pay them off.
“I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting,” the interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, told ESPN.com. “I want people to know I did not know this was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. I will never do sports betting ever again.”
The bookie is Matthew Boyer. Consider this quote from the ESPN.com story: “Sources close to the gambling operation told ESPN that Bowyer dealt directly with Mizuhara, who placed bets on international soccer matches and other sports -- but not baseball -- starting in 2021. A source said Bowyer was aware of the name on the wire transfers but chose not to ask any questions as long as payments came in; however, the source said Bowyer allowed people to believe Ohtani was a client in order to boost business.”
And we’re supposed to believe the interpreter wasn’t making the bets on behalf of Ohtani?
Per ESPN.com, the bets were made on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football.
“I never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara said. “That’s 100 percent. I knew that rule. . . . We have a meeting about that in spring training.”
The situation underscores the reality that, in a world where so many people are engaging in so many forms of legalized gambling, how can we not expect some athletes to succumb to the temptation to get involved? Right or wrong, legal or illegal, the cat is out of the bag. Gambling has become mainstream. Those who play sports at a high level are already drawn to the rush of competition, that surge of dopamine that comes from winning.
Whatever the truth in Ohtani’s case, it’s just a matter of time before star players in every sport find themselves embroiled in gambling controversies. And it’s just a matter of time before every major sport has a scandal that can significantly undermine the integrity of the sport in question.
