M.L.B. Limits Bets on Individual Pitches After Gambling Charges

New York|M.L.B. Limits Bets on Individual Pitches After Gambling Charges

The day after two Cleveland Guardians pitchers were charged with setting up rigged bets on individual pitches, Major League Baseball announced that its betting company partners would limit this specific kind of bet, which the league said is more liable to manipulation.

The changes, which are to be implemented across the sportsbooks that compose nearly all of the legal sports betting market in the United States, include a new $200 limit for bets on individual pitches. They also will ban the inclusion of pitches in parlay bets, which combine wagers for longer odds, but a larger potential payout.

Rob Manfred, the M.L.B. commissioner, described these changes in a statement as “a national solution to address the risks posed by these pitch-level markets, which are particularly vulnerable to integrity concerns.”

He added: “We look forward to continuing to work with all stakeholders, including licensed sports betting operators, elected officials and regulators, to ensure we are always protecting the integrity of our game.”

It was the first tangible change to American sports gambling in response to rising concerns about game integrity following federal indictments for illegal gambling schemes. M.L.B. and N.B.A. players have been accused of manipulating their game performances to set up fraudulent bets.

On Sunday, the Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were charged with sharing inside information about their pitches with bettors, who used that information to make hundreds of thousands of dollars on online gambling platforms. Lawyers for both Mr. Clase and Mr. Ortiz said that their clients were innocent.

Mr. Clase and Mr. Ortiz agreed with bettors before games to throw specific speeds and types of pitch, according to the indictment. Sometimes these pitches were part of parlay bets, authorities said.

Both players were placed on paid leave in July after M.L.B. began an investigation into suspicious wagering activity on their pitches. After the investigation began, Mike DeWine, the governor of Ohio, called on both sports leagues and regulators in his state to ban so-called proposition bets, which are made on events or player performances not directly tied to a game’s outcome.

What M.L.B. announced on Monday is a narrower solution. It limits, but does not ban, one specific kind of prop bet. In its statement, the league argued that most prop bets carry “limited integrity risk” because they involve events that are influenced by more than one person.