Japanese Baseball Players Admit To Illegal GamblingAthletes Said They Did Bet On Sport, But Didn't Fix Games |
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Two pitchers in Japan’s professional baseball league have admitted to gambling on the sport, according to a report from the Associated Press.
Shoki Kasahara and Ryuya Matsumoto, who are on the Yomiuri Giants, said they bet on baseball, but that they did not engage in any game-fixing.
The former said he bet on 10 professional baseball games between April and October last year and on high school baseball games. The latter bet on more than 10 games between June and October 2014.
Gambling on sports is illegal in the country, and the team is cooperating with police on the investigation. Any kind of gambling reportedly is also against the baseball league’s rules.
“This is extremely regrettable,” Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner Katsuhiko Kumazaki said this week. “Baseball holds a special place thanks to the support it has had for a long time from many fans.”
The news comes just days after lawmakers in the country said that they will not hold a special legislative session to consider legalizing casino-style gambling. Some in Japan were hoping for Las Vegas-style casinos to be open in time for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Baseball was last part of the Olympics in 2008. There is a push for the game to be back in the Olympics due to the game’s popularity in Japan, the report said.
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