Browsing: Wetzel

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  Dan WetzelNov 11, 2025, 07:08 AM ET

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  Dan Wetzel is a senior writer focused on investigative reporting, news analysis and feature storytelling.

Emmanuel Clase had made over $12 million as a relief pitcher and was set to pocket an additional $6.4 million next season from the Cleveland Guardians. At just 27 years old with the ability to throw a 95 mph cutter, there were likely many more millions to come.

You’d think that would be enough to avoid possibly throwing it all away in a sports betting scandal.

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Yet federal prosecutors allege that Clase, over the past few years, routinely conspired with a couple of as-yet-unnamed gamblers to throw certain pitches in certain ways so they could successfully bet on the outcome — below a specific speed, for example. (Yes, over/under 97.95 mph is a bet that is offered.)

Prosecutors said the gamblers involved won at least $400,000 in bets involving Clase. A portion, sometimes as little as $2,000 (fractional when compared with his salary), was allegedly kicked back to Clase.

That included a May 28, 2025, game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, where, a federal indictment states, two bettors wagered $4,000 that his first pitch would be either a ball or hit the batter.

Clase apparently did his part, throwing it low and out of the strike zone. Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages swung anyway, though, missing the ball for a strike.

The bet was a bust.

Clase went on to retire the side in order, securing a save in the Cleveland victory. It was of little help to the bettors, though, one of whom sent Clase a “.gif image of a man hanging himself with toilet paper,” per the indictment. Clase texted back “a sad puppy dog face.”

We can only imagine the emojis Clase has been using since his arrest on Sunday that didn’t cost him just the rest of that massive contract and a potential lifetime ban from Major League Baseball, but possibly up to 20 years in prison.

Everything potentially lost for so little.

Clase and Guardians starter Luis Ortiz — also indicted Sunday for similar alleged “pitch-rigging” activities — are innocent until proven guilty, of course, but if you are looking for a near sure thing to count on, it’s the feds. They rarely lose.

And that might be the only thing that can uphold the integrity of sports in America. At least we can hope.

Recent weeks have seen a parade of sports wagering scandals, schemes and indictments. Pro basketball. College basketball. Now MLB.

The accused range from the rich and famous to the broke and obscure, from young men to old heads. Trying to design a preventative, educational system seems impossible. Who can even explain the individual motivations or circumstances? Some needed money; others didn’t. Some were naive; others were worldly.

There is little in common between, say, a respected, 49-year-old Hall of Famer turned NBA coach such as Chauncey Billups, three players on the 4-27 University of New Orleans basketball team and a Dominican relief pitcher in the prime of his lucrative MLB career.

The way to stop this stuff is to stop it from starting. The fear of getting caught — and the fact that the federal government is catching people on a regular basis — might be the only thing that can scare everyone (or most everyone) straight.

Common sense says federal prosecutors won’t find everything. They are trying, though, with offices out of New York and Philadelphia busting people making small wagers on random pitches, the playing rotation of late-season NBA games and even hoops point spreads out of the obscure Southland Conference.

No one should think they are safe.

Gamblers, of course, have been fixing sports about as long as sports have existed. Baseball itself has seen a World Series compromised and its all-time hit king barred from Hall of Fame enshrinement due to this stuff.

A pitch in the Cleveland dirt somehow seems quaint.

Yet never before has sports wagering been so front of mind in America. Not only is it legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia, but teams, leagues, media outlets and everyone else are cashing in on the business. It’s on your TV. It’s on your phone. It’s in your face whether you gamble or not. Promo Code: Everywhere.

That has likely led to more temptation. Some of the college players have bet on themselves or participated in unsophisticated plots — one New Orleans player was allegedly overheard at a timeout telling two others to stop scoring to prevent their team from accidentally covering (the spread was 23; they lost by 25).

The good news? The ease of betting has also certainly led to easier detection, at least if bets are made through legal sources. The integrity monitoring systems are excellent.

There is a movement to ban individual prop bets, such as a player’s rebounding totals or the speed of a pitch. Those are easiest to manipulate, after all. MLB announced Monday that prominent U.S. sportsbooks are placing a $200 betting limit on baseball wagers centered on individual pitches and prohibiting such bets from being included in parlays in an attempt to decrease the incentive for manipulation. These are good ideas.

Yet sports wagering comes in many forms — legal, yes, but also through illegal books or offshore accounts. Then there is daily fantasy and the prediction market, where there is a near lack of government oversight.

This feels like whack-a-mole. Legislation is always a reaction, not a prevention.

In the end, the fear of being busted is about the only universal deterrent. Corruption is an individual decision, and prison is a powerful disincentive. No one wants to be the next guy sending sad puppy dog faces.

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  Dan WetzelOct 23, 2025, 03:00 PM ET

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  Dan Wetzel is a senior writer focused on investigative reporting, news analysis and feature storytelling.

Nearly every sports league, team and operation (including, ahem, media outlets) wants in on sports wagering revenue. Sponsorships. Partnerships. Advertising. It’s legal, after all.

Maybe it’s direct payments. Maybe it’s advertising dollars from increased viewership that come through bigger and bigger broadcast deals. Whatever the source, sports is awash in gambling cash.

Nothing comes for free, though, and on Thursday, the bill came due for the NBA.

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Every other league can only look on and know that if there was ever a sure-bet, it’s that this won’t be the last time a parade of FBI and Department of Justice figures stage a news conference to detail a slew of indictments over unsavory behavior involving sports betting.

More than 30 people were arrested, including big shots such as Mr. Big Shot — Hall of Fame player and current Portland Trail Blazer coach Chauncey Billups. Meanwhile, officials kept citing the juicy involvement of La Cosa Nostra and New York crime families, including the Gambinos and Genovese.

Like a “Hollywood movie,” Ricky Patel of Homeland Securities Investigations said.

Try the veal, it’s the best in the city.

Gambling scandals are not new in sports — from the Black Sox to Tim Donaghy. However, the proliferation of legalized sports wagering, putting betting in everyone’s face, if not their phone, almost assuredly makes the games more susceptible.

The indictments contained fascinating high-tech details of underground poker games with X-ray card readers to help organized crime rig the action. And there were the alleged actions of Damon Jones, a former player and assistant coach who the feds say tipped off others about injuries the public didn’t yet know about.

One example: a certain unnamed Los Angeles Lakers star would be sitting out a Feb. 9, 2023, game against Milwaukee.

“Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out! [Player 3] is out tonight,” the indictment alleges Jones texted a co-conspirator. “Bet enough so Djones can eat to [sic] now!!!”

One Laker who sat out that night to rest a sore left ankle? LeBron James. A source close to James told ESPN on Thursday that the star had no knowledge of information about his status being leaked. The Bucks won by nine, covering the -7.5 spread. DJones, presumably, ate.

“This is the insider trading scandal of the NBA,” FBI director Kash Patel said.

It is. And it is fair for fans to wonder exactly what they are watching. The indictment mostly hinges on players purposefully taking themselves out of games with injury to assure they hit the under on individual prop bets, but that still corrupts the competition.

The proliferation of legalized sports wagering allows criminal elements to place numerous small bets on the information (and hopefully not trigger suspicion) and cash in.

The fact that players and coaches on multimillion-dollar contracts could be susceptible — Rozier was playing on a four-year, $96.2-million contract — just adds to the concern. Good luck to college sports, where the NCAA is investigating 13 men’s basketball players at six schools in a betting scheme.

Now on Wednesday, the NCAA allowed all of its athletes to legally wager on professional sports.

Hey, what bad could happen?

Sports wagering may be a boon to the bottom line, but it comes with increased suspicion into everything. That includes, quite unfairly, athletes who just simply underperform or do get injured and thus cost some bettors money. Online harassment is off the charts.

As for the presence of Billups, he’s the shiny star that attracts attention. In one indictment a defendant referred to as “Co-Conspirator 8,” allegedly told a bettor that the Trail Blazers would be tanking and several of their best players would not be playing in a March 24, 2023, game against the Chicago Bulls.

Co-Conspirator 8 is not named in the indictment, but the description of the playing and coaching career matches Billups.

In another indictment, Billups is alleged to have played in illegal poker games set up by New York organized crime. He was a famous “face card” used to attract an unwitting patsy who arrived at games with X-ray tables that can read cards face down and cameras on poker chip trays that can do the same.

The info would be sent to a remote location, then relayed back to the “quarterback” in the game who would then signal to the others involved which hand was most likely to win. The “fish” as they were known, never stood a chance. One guy lost $1.8 million, the feds said.

It will be interesting to find out how and why someone of Billups’ stature and financial security ($100 million in player earnings) would be involved in this. Still, the Trail Blazers were apparently going to tank regardless. And the fact an illegal poker game in New York or Miami might be less than reputable doesn’t seem like a huge surprise (caveat emptor), let alone threat to the general public.

So as bad as this is, it could have been a lot worse.

Yet that’s kind of the point. Unless every athlete and coach and official and trainer and so on, heeds the FBI warnings to steer clear of this stuff, then the next scandal is assuredly coming. Not only could it be worse, there’s a decent chance it will be.

Legalized sports wagering sure is good money.

It just doesn’t come cheap.

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