Major League Baseball (MLB) has permanently banned San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano from the sport after he was found to have been gambling on baseball. In addition to Marcano, four other players were also declared ineligible for one year due to violations of MLB’s gambling policy.
Marcano made a total of 387 bets on baseball, including 231 MLB-related bets, between October 16, 2022 and November 1, 2023 while with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. He spent over $150,000 on these bets, with $87,319 of that going towards MLB bets and the rest on international baseball games. Despite making 25 bets on Pirates games during his time with the major league club, he did not actually play in any of those games.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred emphasized the importance of enforcing rules and policies regarding gambling conduct in order to protect the integrity of the game for fans. This action against Marcano is the first time an active participant in MLB has been permanently banned since Pete Rose’s lifetime ban while managing the Cincinnati Reds in 1989.
This investigation into Marcano’s gambling activities comes shortly after the NBA permanently banned former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter for violating its gambling rules. This incident also follows a previous MLB inquiry into Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, for sports betting which led to Mizuhara being charged with bank fraud.
