The Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal is about more than bad bets

There is perhaps no bigger star playing Major League Baseball today than Shohei Ohtani. Over the course of his career in both his native Japan and in the United States, Ohtani has frequently been compared to — and sometimes described as even surpassing — baseball greats like Babe Ruth and other mythological figures of the game. As both a pitcher and hitter he has proven himself to be the sort of generational talent who becomes synonymous with baseball as a contemporary sport and with the broader legacy of baseball as both a national and international institution. 

Last week, the Los Angeles Times reported that Ohtani had been named in connection to a sprawling federal investigation into alleged gambling bookkeeper Matthew Bowyer and Ohtani's since-fired interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. It's a scandal that has threatened to overshadow Ohtani's legacy in baseball, even as his exact involvement remains unclear. Ohtani's representatives claimed the baseball star had been the "victim of a massive theft" of millions of dollars. Mizuhara claimed to ESPN that Ohtani had agreed to help him pay off a large gambling debt. While multiple money transfers from Ohtani's bank account were wired to an associate of Bowyer, the baseball star himself had "zero involvement in betting." One day later, he recanted, and claimed Ohtani had no knowledge of the debt or payments. 

'The central figure in a whodunit'

While the details of the case are murky, what's at stake for Ohtani "couldn't be clearer," The Ringer said. At risk is not only the "career and reputation of baseball's best, highest-paid, and most famous player" but more broadly, Major League Baseball's "perceived integrity in an era of ever-tightening ties between sports leagues and sportsbooks." Ohtani, meanwhile, is the "central figure in a whodunit in which we don't really know any of the three components of the word 'whodunit,'" Defector said. There are many possibilities: Ohtani could merely be a "loyal yet incompetent friend," or perhaps a "degenerate gambler" setting Mizuhara up for a fall, or a "semi-amiable lummox caught in a series of bizarre switches beyond his comprehension."

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The saga is shaping up to potentially be the "biggest gambling scandal for baseball since Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban" more than three decades ago, The Associated Press said. With its policy on gambling "posted in every locker room," MLB's rules say that betting on baseball itself is punishable by a year's ban from the game, while "betting on other sports illegally is at the commissioner's discretion." In his interview with ESPN, Mizuhara initially insisted he "never bet on baseball"

Several days after the allegations against Mizuhara were announced, the league said it had opened an investigation into the case, although it is "unclear how much teeth the MLB investigation will have," The Athletic said. For now, at least, the league is "unlikely to place Ohtani under administrative leave, as is common during other investigations" since he has not been officially implicated in a crime. 

A 'cautionary tale'

For some lawmakers, the Ohtani scandal has the "silver lining" of shining a "spotlight on the plague of gambling addiction," NBC News said. While Ohtani's case centers on gambling done illegally in California, it comes amid "growing scrutiny about the rise of legalized sports gambling" in the U.S. In a statement to the network, Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), sponsor of the SAFE Bet Act, predicted that the unchecked proliferation of sports betting would "make this type of incident more common moving forward."

This is a "cautionary tale for the NFL" as well, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio said, speculating that there are players who are using friends and family as strawmen to place "legal wagers through their phone" while bankrolling the entire operation — a scenario that will "blow up at some point for the NFL." 

For Ohtani specifically, the powers within MLB are committed to him as a "moneymaker, cultural icon, and active ballplayer," Defector said. "Just how bulletproof is Shohei Ohtani?" That remains unresolved, but "based on early returns, that answer is 'as bulletproof as MLB needs him to be.'"