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Gambling Ban Reversal Has Joe West Scared "to Death"


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MLB's senior-most umpire and World Umpires Association president Joe West says that the United States Supreme Court's decision to lift a federal ban on sports gambling "scares me to death," positing that ump safety is in greater jeopardy now that gamblers have more freedom to bet on games. Joe...

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It's a nonsensical take....is Joe under some naive impression that a) there hasn't been legal betting in Nevada for a long time now, and b) there's been illegal/underground betting this whole time? Come on, man...

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  • 4 years later...

The gambling business pays more than 2 billion in taxes to the budget annually, even though, unlike other industries, the entire company was created exclusively with private funds. But crime, according to experts, is practically not interested in this business - they work honestly here. A fairly wide range of consumers needs the services of gambling infrastructure enterprises. about 10 percent of the population consider a visit to Pelaa Casino or a slot machine hall to be a good rest, a way to distract and relax. So I think it's right not to forbid it,

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14 hours ago, ArchAngel72 said:

So I am wondering.  Other than basketball. Has anyone seen anything about Umpires or Refs doing anything horrible to alter games ?  Or look like they were influenced possibly by betting?

FIFA has banned at least one referee for taking bribes.

It's going to be more difficult with sports that have more officials on the field/floor, because one official can only do so much in most sports...and even more difficult now that instant replay can undo a lot of wrongs.   The one gap in baseball is certainly balls/strikes.

I suspect it's more prevalent at lower levels, where there is still gambling on outcomes, but the reality is it has always been easier to bribe the players, especially less paid ones, like the late 70's Boston College point shaving scheme....or boxing.

1919 White Sox aside, baseball is also harder to fix because it's typically win/lose...and that can raise flags.   Football and basketball offer a much easier approach to simply making sure one team doesn't cover the spread...that's harder to detect...and people get less antsy about it because oftentimes the "right" team still won.  Outside that, prop bets are just too difficult to influence...the nefarious types who want to fix sporting events want easy.  

 

Then of course there was the figure skating judging fiasco of the 90's that came to a head in the SLC Olympics - where blocks of judges agreed to predetermined placings to help each other's countries out - not a result of gambling though.

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15 hours ago, ArchAngel72 said:

Umpires or Refs doing anything horrible to alter games ?  Or look like they were influenced possibly by betting?

https://youtu.be/wXGFZkIEMK0

seahawks-packers-fail-mary.gif

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck 🦆… 

… 

… it must be a cow! 🐄 

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42 minutes ago, 834k3r said:

Kinda surprised no one's brought up this gem.

 

I don't think I have ever bashed/shamed any umpires publicly before.  However, since we're all umpires here I will say this between us:  Of the 10,000 videos on the internet titled "worst umpire call ever"...this particular one actually may be the video where that title is actually correct.

Not bashing the umpires (okay, I am a little), but one has to own it when you screw up that bad.  LOL

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12 minutes ago, lawump said:

I don't think I have ever bashed/shamed any umpires publicly before.  However, since we're all umpires here I will say this between us:  Of the 10,000 videos on the internet titled "worst umpire call ever"...this particular one actually may be the video where that title is actually correct.

Not bashing the umpires (okay, I am a little), but one has to own it when you screw up that bad.  LOL

Well yeah.. That had to be a bad "BLINK" Moment  I do not think gambling was involved..

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On 5/17/2018 at 2:59 PM, scrounge said:

It's a nonsensical take....is Joe under some naive impression that a) there hasn't been legal betting in Nevada for a long time now, and b) there's been illegal/underground betting this whole time? Come on, man...

You obviously didn't understand what Joe was talking about.

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20 hours ago, lawump said:

I don't think I have ever bashed/shamed any umpires publicly before.  However, since we're all umpires here I will say this between us:  Of the 10,000 videos on the internet titled "worst umpire call ever"...this particular one actually may be the video where that title is actually correct.

Not bashing the umpires (okay, I am a little), but one has to own it when you screw up that bad.  LOL

It was just a lack of focus. It was literally the 2nd pitch of the game. 

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On 11/30/2022 at 10:48 AM, ArchAngel72 said:

Well yeah.. That had to be a bad "BLINK" Moment  I do not think gambling was involved..

I didn't immediately go to "umps were on the take"...frankly, it would be too blindingly obvious...but it's not just a bad "blink" moment...it's a blink moment for TWO umpires at the same time...that's what makes it so horrendous...and unlike many of the other "worst call" videos out there, these guys are paid to do this.

On 11/30/2022 at 10:35 AM, lawump said:

I don't think I have ever bashed/shamed any umpires publicly before.  However, since we're all umpires here I will say this between us:  Of the 10,000 videos on the internet titled "worst umpire call ever"...this particular one actually may be the video where that title is actually correct.

For me it's either this one, or the high school softball one a couple of years ago where the foul ball was followed by an overthrow, and all baserunners were allowed to score...and all three umpires got together and ruled that the play was correct (all while the batter who hit the foul ball was still in the batter's box and then resumed her at bat) - the only thing that drops this one a notch is those umps still are amateurs.

 

On 11/30/2022 at 11:39 AM, UMP45 said:

You obviously didn't understand what Joe was talking about.

Educate us...I think I understand what he's saying...he's simply wrong...with the exception of "more" his fear is unfounded...gambling has always been there....legal gambling has always been there...Christ, the NFL has built their schedule and their injury reporting rules around it.  With the exception of accessibility the federal reversal is not going to change anything around the impact of gambling on the game, or the safety of the players or officials.  Gambling was there before, it's here now....just more.

One of the biggest reasons instant replay was brought into all the major sports was the influence of the gambling industry....that was long before any federal ban was addressed...let alone that 95% of the world's population lives outside the US.   May not have been as big a gambling market as soccer, but there always was international betting on MLB/NFL/NBA/NHL games.   You can also look to the history of international betting on international sporting events to show his fears are unfounded.   Anything he believes will happen was already happening.

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4 hours ago, beerguy55 said:

I didn't immediately go to "umps were on the take"...frankly, it would be too blindingly obvious...but it's not just a bad "blink" moment...it's a blink moment for TWO umpires at the same time...that's what makes it so horrendous...and unlike many of the other "worst call" videos out there, these guys are paid to do this.

For me it's either this one, or the high school softball one a couple of years ago where the foul ball was followed by an overthrow, and all baserunners were allowed to score...and all three umpires got together and ruled that the play was correct (all while the batter who hit the foul ball was still in the batter's box and then resumed her at bat) - the only thing that drops this one a notch is those umps still are amateurs.

 

Educate us...I think I understand what he's saying...he's simply wrong...with the exception of "more" his fear is unfounded...gambling has always been there....legal gambling has always been there...Christ, the NFL has built their schedule and their injury reporting rules around it.  With the exception of accessibility the federal reversal is not going to change anything around the impact of gambling on the game, or the safety of the players or officials.  Gambling was there before, it's here now....just more.

One of the biggest reasons instant replay was brought into all the major sports was the influence of the gambling industry....that was long before any federal ban was addressed...let alone that 95% of the world's population lives outside the US.   May not have been as big a gambling market as soccer, but there always was international betting on MLB/NFL/NBA/NHL games.   You can also look to the history of international betting on international sporting events to show his fears are unfounded.   Anything he believes will happen was already happening.

It's not about gambling being legal or illegal. It's about the PERCEPTION that an umpire/umpires may be in with gamblers.  

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On 12/1/2022 at 7:38 AM, JSam21 said:

It was just a lack of focus. It was literally the 2nd pitch of the game. 

Bad enough the PU missed it; what was utterly egregious is the U1 didn’t rectify it on appeal / sided with the PU!! 

Both of those umpires got fired. The U2 and U3 were fined, suspended and reprimanded. Why? Because they didn’t step up, step in and fix it!!

Back when this occurred, the issue I (and several other umpires) had with it was the perception that the U1 was “covering” or siding with the PU in this weird, twisted “save face” or “don’t overturn your (PU, especially!) partner” thing that some “old school” umpires subscribe to. 

I used up my allotment of quotation marks. 

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On 12/2/2022 at 1:59 PM, UMP45 said:

It's not about gambling being legal or illegal. It's about the PERCEPTION that an umpire/umpires may be in with gamblers.  

And, again, why would that perception change?  Gambling has been there all along, and has been legal in many areas, all along...adding legality to more jurisdictions doesn't change the underlying construct.   There's no reason for it to change any perception.

In fact, historically, it's typically been the opposite - where gambling is, or has been, illegal you are more likely to see scenarios where officials and/or players are tied to rigging results.  Famous examples like the White Sox 1919 or the Boston College point shaving were fixes that occurred in illegal gambling syndicates.

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  • 6 months later...

I stumbled upon your post and decided to revive this thread. Thank you for sharing the article. It's clear that changes in the legal regulation of gambling affect various stakeholders, including players and betting enthusiasts. Change can be scary, but let's hope that proper measures are taken to ensure the integrity of the game and everyone's well-being. Speaking of betting, I recently came across a fantastic resource, http://www.elculturalsanmartin.org/, which provides a list of trusted betting sites offering great bonuses and high odds. I've already had a lot of fun playing on those platforms. If you're into betting, you might want to check it out!

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