by Ben Olson
Jarred Cosart is a 24 year old, pitcher for the Miami
Marlins. On March 24th, an
illegal gambling site, Gambling Authority, tweeted out a screenshot of a
conversation that it had with Cosart about him gambling and betting of
sports. The next day, Cosart deleted his
tweets, his twitter account, and claimed that he was hacked.
Gambling
illegally is a violation in the MLB handbook.
Rule 21 (d) (3) states that “players are prohibited from placing bets
with illegal book makers, or agents for illegal book makers… on any sporting
event.” (Gleeman, 2015).
The
first big issue that was brought up when this story first broke was if Cosart
bet on baseball. I’m sure everybody
knows the story of Pete Rose. The Rose
story shows you how MLB handles its’ players betting on the game. It came to light that Cosart never bet on the
game of baseball, although, he did illegally bet on other sports. Cosart says “ I have never, nor would I ever,
bet on the great game of baseball.. I’m glad to bring closure to this situation
before Opening Day.” (Chiari, 2015).
Cosart was fined an undisclosed amount of money after the MLB
investigation.
The
issue that arose here are that professional players are illegally
gambling. Do you believe that this is a
common issue within professional sports?
Do you believe that it is a big deal for a professional athlete to
gamble on other sports that they do not participate in? Did MLB handle this situation the right away
and was the punishment enough? What can
professional leagues do to prevent its’ players from illegally gambling in the
future?
References
Chiari, M. (2015,
March 25). Jarred Cosart Under MLB
Investigation for Gambling: Latest
Details, Comments. Bleacher Report. Retrieved from http://bleacherreport.com
/article/2408723-jarred-cosart-under-mlb-investigation-for-gambling-latest-details-
comments.
Gleeman, A. (2015,
April 3). MLB investigation shows
Marlins pitcher Jarred Cosart illegally
gambled on sports, but did not bet on
baseball. NBC Sports. Retrieved from
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/03/mlb-investigation-shows-marlins-pitcher-jared-cosart-illegally-gambled-on-sports-but-did-not-bet-on-baseball.
Ben,
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with the Cosart situation, but I would assume that what he participated in is somewhat common with athletes. In high school and college, most athletes participate in some kind of gambling activity with their friends, whether it's betting on games or on who can create the perfect bracket. The practice probably doesn't stop once you get to the big leagues and have even more money to bet on sports that aren't your own. I don't think its a horrible situation, but the main issue is the legality involved. Gambling is legal in some states, but obviously Cosart did his gambling in an illegal way. So, from an ethical standpoint, there is a major issue with breaking laws. I would say the MLB handled the situation appropriately by fining him, but not going overboard with other types of punishment.
Joey Durant