May 12, 2022

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

888sport Sportsbook, Bet99 and a whole bunch of more gaming sights yet to be approved.

You remember when you first fall in love ...

It was at the winter meetings. A single sheet of paper had been slid under the hotel room door inviting me to turn to a new cable station ... The MLB Network.

That was the start ... and in 2014 the Network came to Canada, five years after launching on Jan. 1, 2009 with a showing of Don Larsen’s perfect game.

(I remember the late Marty Noble calling me on New Year’s Eve 2008 to wish me the best in the new year and brag, “I get to watch Mickey Mantle tomorrow and you don’t.” I said “You mean Larsen’s perfect game?” He quickly shot back “No Mickey Mantle.”)

Once the Network hit Mississauga, from the time I was awake until Quick Pitch aired (after the final pitch was thrown on the west coast), the TV was on channel 415. There were nights when I’d watch the Quick Pitch repeat. The only time I’d switch was to watch the Blue Jays. Not that I am one dimensional ...

It was captivating TV for a seam head like me. And so many analysts had played in Toronto and each were blessed with excellent humor: Mark DeRosa, Al Leiter and Dan Plesac. Plus, Kevin Millar had his own show. I was over the moon watching this station.

* * *

Bet 365 and Betway.

I know exactly when I started to fall out of love with The MLB Network too. It came last September watching a Philadelphia Phillies game from Citizens Bank Park. A wide shot coming out of commercial panned the stadium. I counted no less than six adds on the stadium levels for DraftKings.

DraftKings bills itself as a daily fantasy sports contest and sports betting company. Of course, Major League Baseball owns 25% of the company.

Then came approval for single-game wagering in this province on April 4, allowing bettors to sign-up at any online sportsbooks available in Ontario. You could bet once the lineups were sent to Vegas, you can bet prior to first pitch and you can bet during the game.

My beloved Network went from highlights, analysis and insightful breakdowns to highlights and odds, analysis and over/unders, breakdowns and advice on prop bets.

* * *

BetMGM and BetRivers ...

Instead of probable pitchers, the talk was of probable odds. It went from being the greatest Network in the history of television to reminding me of watching a thoroughbred inside an Off Track Betting parlor off Times Square. The office sent me to New York to write about OTB coming to Canada.

To paraphrase Robert Preston’s song the Music Man ...

Trouble!

Right here in River City

With a capital “T” and that rhymes with “B” and that stands for betting

We’ve surely got trouble

Right here in River City

Gotta figure out a way to keep the young ones moral after school

So MLB and the Network are both pushing betting and odds all day long, interviewing “experts” and getting the inside splits on why a team is favored.

And yet, I spoke to two executives this week

The first call I asked, “Are you eating diner or do you have a minute?” The other call started off with “Do you have a couple of minutes?”

The answers were identical:

“I’ve got time ... I’m filling this form promising that I won’t bet on baseball. Can you believe it?”

* * *

Caesars and Coolbet ...

Remember when the Jays had their triple-A team in Las Vegas? They were there four seasons. One season the Jays named its minor-league staff (managers, coaches, trainer and strength coaches) for the upcoming season. Some personnel were not back in Vegas where they’d been the year before.

I asked someone with the Jays what the deal was?

I never found out whom, but apparently a Jays minor-league decision maker at Vegas was borrowing money from high-priced bonus babies on the team ... and not re-paying the loan. He was able to find the casino.

* * *

DraftKings and FanDuel ...

Watching the Network this season has been all about betting. Over/under. Plus/minus. Odds. There is not enough Harold Reynolds, Pedro Martinez, Cliff Floyd, Mike Lowell, Billy Ripken, Carlos Pena, Chris Young, Dan O’Dowd, DeRosa, Plesac or Leiter.

Hall of Famer Jim Thome might be one of the nicest people I have ever met and there he is being asked to give the over/under on total bases for a hitter that night.

Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon and his ACES agency made a deal with MaximBet to be a brand-ambassador, the first of its kind between an active major leaguer and a sports betting operator ... Bet99 signed Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews as an ambassador in February ... Wayne Gretzky and Connor McDavid are with BetMGM, as are former hoopster Kevin Garnett and former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch ... Ex-quarterbacks Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning are with Caesars ... What would the famed Richardsons think of curlers Keri Einarson and Kevin Koe signing with PointsBet?

The Player’s Association argued in the negotiating the latest Basic Agreement that if management could have authorized gaming partners (FanDuel, DraftKings, FOX Bet, BetMGM etc.) then so could players. Depriving players of their share of this new source of revenue was not a battle management could win.

How many teams are bed with betting sites?

The Chicago Cubs are with DraftKings, the Washington Nationals with BetMGM and the New York Mets with Caesars.

And so it goes. Former players. Current players. Teams. What’s next an ‘I Bet at Fred’s’ crest on a uniform?

* * *

LeoVegas and Party Casino ...

Don’t get the wrong idea. I am not a prude in favor of abolishing gambling nor do I think lotteries should be shut down. I used to bet harness racing when I covered Rideau-Carleton Raceway and Connaught Park in Ottawa. I buy 50/50 tickets at the Rogers Centre.

How is there a difference?

Well, Pete Rose is on the “permanently” ineligible list for wagering. Former commissioner Bowie Kuhn placed Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays on the same list because both worked Atlantic City casinos as “greeters” as they met customers, signed autographs and played in golf tournaments. We have not seen any comments from either Mays or Rose.

Kuhn stated baseball heroes should not be associating with gamblers. Every night Vlad Guerrero Jr. or George Springer flips a ball into the stands after the third out are they hanging around gamblers? Players sign autographs for fans leaning over the railing. Is that associating with a possible gambler or making a Little Leaguer’s night?

Chances are some people at Rogers Centre have wagered on the game, the outcome of the at-bat or whether the next pitch is a ball or a strike?

Mays began working for Bally’s Park Place in 1979, while Mantle worked at Del Webb’s Claridge Casino Hotel in 1983. New commissioner Peter Ueberroth lifted the suspension in 1985.

And yet this new regime is promoting wagering.

* * *

PointsBet, Rivalry ...

When I worked at the Ottawa Journal, the printers were locked out by management, which eventually led to the paper shutting down. The newsroom was not a guild shop so we had to report to work. Often I’d see this man -- let’s call him Big Luke -- at one of the tracks. He had the gambling bug bad, plus I think he was a bad gambler.

Once returning from Connaught, I stopped at his apartment downtown. He was at home and invited me in on a cold December day. I asked for a soda and he said there was one in a cupboard or the fridge.

The man had five or six cats and told me to look for a Tab (it came before of Diet Coke) as he put the garbage out the side door. I looked in every cupboard above and below the counter top, gazed into the fridge.

The only things I saw were tins, some half eaten, of cat food. Was the man eating cat food? It was an awful thought. So a week later when we headed home to Kingston I filled the trunk with bags of groceries. It was a quick visit and he hugged me when I left. Returning in January there wasn’t an answer and a couple of weeks later when I returned his name was gone from the mail box.

* * *

Royal Panda and SNBets ...

In March, ex-minor league right-hander Wayne Nix was named in a series of cases tied to an illegal sports gambling ring, which involves current and former pro athletes.

Nix, now 45, had pitched six years in the Oakland A’s system, hired three former big-league players to help with the business, but they were not named in court documents. Nix pleaded guilty.

Records show his clients in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas included some big-names:

A major-league coach paid Nix $4,000 in 2016 and a pro ball player, who owed debts to Nix had his betting limits increased in 2019. A baseball analyst wired Nix $8,000 in 2018. Elsewhere, a pro football player wrote a check for $245,000 in 2016.

The NFL suspended Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley for the 2022 season. He placed wagers over a five-day period in November.

The Registrar of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission for Ontario served two registered operators with notices of monetary penalty, for alleged internet gaming infractions concerning advertising.

BetMGM Canada has been served penalties totaling $48,000 for alleged failure to comply with standards and PointsBet Canada was served a $30,000 penalty.

* * *

Royal Panda and SNBets ...

The Jays and The Score Bet agreed on a 10-year partnership So now The Score Bet can bill itself as “The Official Gaming Partner Of The Jays.” Carry on that thought process ... Will fans think “I have a better chance of wining and the Jays winning if I wager with The Score. Will the odds be better?”

The Jays unveiled their new sections of seats along the front row of the left and right field foul line where fans could gamble, watch the Jays game or switch the TV to another ball yard. The media was invited but there was little coverage? Why? Because a lot of media outlets are in the process of diving into the pool.

We can for see a night where the over/under on total bases is say 2.5 on Bo Bichette and with two singles in his back pocket, one of the official scorers -- Howard Starkman, Herb Morrell or Roger Lajoie -- rules an E-6 rather than a single. We can see hundreds of people standing and yelling at the press box -- much like a broadcaster used to scream when someone ran back a kick in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 36-18. Why was he screaming like it was a tie game? He bet the over.

* * *

Thescore Bet, Unibet and others still to be approved.

In Ottawa a couple of friends who used to bet with a bookie went for a drink with him one night after a game. I asked him if he could really make a living at betting.

I’ve never forgotten his answer.

“If it was easy I’d be sitting in Vegas with my feet up waiting for my gal from a chorus line to bring me another Miller -- the champagne of Bottled Beers -- rather than taking phone calls all day, setting line and trying to collect from guys dodging paying me.

“I scrape by. Gambling isn’t easy.”

I think of that conversation about 10 times a day watching MLB Network and now that Rogers Sportsnet is into the wagering game too.

There was a reason MLB Network had something new running across the crawl at the bottom of its screen all winter. At the end of the daily transactions, trades and signings.

It was an 800 number for Gamblers Anonymous.