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5 of the biggest sports betting scandals in US history
As of February 2026, 38 states plus Washington, D.C., have legalized sports betting. Consequently, as betting has become increasingly entrenched in American sports, more high-profile scandals involving leagues and athletes have come to light.
Before the Supreme Court's 2018 decision to banning sports betting, if you wanted to bet on sports, you had to visit Nevada (which was exempted from the law), go through an offshore site, or use an illegal bookmaker.
As legalized sports betting spread through the country, the public started to pay more attention to sports now that they had money on the line. In 2024, the American Gaming Association reported that bettors wagered nearly $150 billion trying to beat the odds, generating a record $13.71 billion in sportsbook revenue. The industry continued its growth in 2025, with commercial gaming revenue up 8.7% through November compared to the same period the year before.
However, leagues still want to see fair play, so the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and NCAA all have , and no league allows players鈥攐r employees鈥攆rom betting on that league's games. The NCAA's policy extends to wagering on any NCAA-sponsored sport.
Yet, with more and more money on the line, the temptation for players and league employees to fix games increases. And as a result, more sports betting scandals are making the headlines. compiled a list of five of the biggest sports betting scandals in U.S. history.
While the sports betting theft scandal involving L.A. Dodger Shohei Ohtani dominated sports headlines in early 2024, many other athletes and coaches have recently come under fire for violating sports betting rules. In October 2023, the NHL suspended Ottawa Senators Shane Pinto for 41 games for .
In April 2024, the NBA banned Toronto Raptors Jontay Porter for with bettors, taking himself out of games to cover bets, and betting on NBA games himself. The NCAA is not immune to scandals, finding of its sports-betting policy between 2018 and 2023, including the firing of Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon after on the team and the investigation of 41 athletes from the University of Iowa and Iowa State for .
Time will tell whether this new era of sports betting will bring back more scandals like these, which rocked fans' confidence in their favorite sports.
Black Sox fix the 1919 World Series
Fixed games and gambling are nothing new in baseball, with players throwing games . But fixing a World Series was a different story. In 1919, the Chicago White Sox were the odds-on favorites to beat the Cincinnati Reds, but eight team members conspired with gamblers to for hefty payouts. Rumors of fixes abounded after the first game, which the White Sox lost 9-1. But the series went on, with the White Sox ultimately losing five games to three.
The incident might have been swept under the rug, but nearly a year later, a grand jury started to of a regular-season game between the Cubs and the Phillies, only to pivot to the White Sox's mysterious World Series loss the year before. Eight members of that White Sox team were indicted for conspiracy. While the players were acquitted in court, the MLB's first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned all eight players from the game for life.
In May 2025, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred posthumously removed all eight Black Sox players from the permanently ineligible list, making them eligible for Hall of Fame consideration for the first time in more than a century.
Pete Rose agrees to lifetime baseball ban for sports betting in 1989
One of the greatest baseball players ever will never be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame due to sports betting. In 1988, around Cincinnati Reds player-manager Pete Rose that鈥攁long with betting on 鈥攈e had been betting on his own team to win since 1985. This was in direct violation of the MLB's Rule 21, which prohibits betting on baseball.
Then-MLB commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti (father to actor Paul Giamatti) of Rose, which provided ample evidence to back up the allegations, including that Rose had spent at least betting on 50 individual Reds games in 1987. Rather than admit fault, Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from the sport in 1989.
Rose died Sept. 30, 2024, at age 83 in Las Vegas. In May 2025, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred posthumously removed Rose from the permanently ineligible list, ruling that "permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual." Rose is now eligible for consideration by the Baseball Hall of Fame's Classic Baseball Era Committee, which will next convene in December 2027.
Arizona State University basketball players caught point-shaving games in 1994
During his senior year, Arizona State star Stevin "Headake" Smith found himself from gambling on pro sports. And then he met the man who would change the trajectory of his life.
Bookie Benny Silman concocted a scheme that would not only help Smith pay off his gambling debts but earn him some cash on the side. Smith, with the help of teammate Isaac Burton Jr., through point shaving, a process where players miss points or let their opponents score to ensure that the final outcome didn't meet the point spread and help bookmakers earn a hefty payout.
Las Vegas sportsbooks soon noticed erratic bets on Arizona State games and called the FBI in to investigate. Smith and Burton pled guilty to conspiracy, and .
Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleads guilty to gambling charges in 2007
A gambling addiction drove NBA referee Tim Donaghy to about referees' game schedules, teams and athletes' relationships with specific referees, and players' health, feeding the details to his gambling associates for .
If he was right, the gamblers won big, and Donaghy got a payout. Donaghy also admitted that he gambled on games in which he had officiated, which would violate NBA rules. However, it was to affect the results of those games.
After the FBI started investigating his behavior, Donaghy and pled guilty to two counts of . Although his crimes carried a sentence of up to 25 years in prison, Donaghy only served 15 months of jail time and three years of probation. The NBA responded by getting more serious about game-fixing, implementing numerous systems to better monitor referees and suspicious bets.
MLB MVP Shohei Ohtani embroiled in gambling investigation in 2024
While investigating Mathew Bowyer, an illegal bookmaker in California, federal agents discovered the name of baseball's biggest star on two wire transfer receipts. And just like that, Shohei Ohtani鈥攚ho had signed a with the Los Angeles Dodgers in December 2023鈥攆ound himself in the middle of a gambling scandal.
Marked as "loans," the receipts , a fraction of the that came from the athlete's account to pay off the Ohtani's long-time interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, racked up between 2021 and 2023.
When the story originally broke in March 2024, Ohtani's camp said the ballplayer had sent the wire transfers to cover Mizuhara's debt. The Dodgers fired Mizuhara after it came out that the interpreter, who had had , made the payments without Ohtani's knowledge. Ohtani found out about the scandal at the same time as his teammates and has repeatedly said he had .
Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud. On Feb. 6, 2025, a federal judge sentenced him to 57 months in prison. Prosecutors said Mizuhara stole nearly $17 million from Ohtani to cover gambling debts. He was ordered to pay restitution to Ohtani and more than $1 million to the IRS.
MLB's investigation cleared Ohtani of any wrongdoing, concluding he had no knowledge of Mizuhara's gambling or theft.
Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Clarese Moller.
