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San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano is facing a potential lifetime ban for betting on Major League Baseball games, while four others are also under investigation, sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to ESPN's Jeff Passan on Monday (June 3).
Passan's report followed an earlier report by Lindsey Adler and Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal. Marcano, 24, has not yet been penalized as an investigation into his alleged activity is ongoing, according to Passan.
"San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano is facing a potential lifetime ban for betting on baseball, sources tell ESPN. While Major League Baseball's investigation into Marcano is not complete, a penalty, as @lindseyadler and @jareddiamond reported, could be imminent," Passan wrote on his X account.
Major League Baseball reportedly received information that Marcano wagered on games involving the Pittsburgh Pirates when he was on the team, but on the injured list due to a torn ACL, last season. MLB Rule 21 states that "any player or person connected with a club" who bets on games involving their own team is subject to a lifetime ban. MLB hit king Pete Rose, accepted a lifetime ban from baseball in return for the league not making a formal determination about whether or not he bet on baseball during his tenure as the Cincinnati Reds' manager and remains banned from the game and the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Four minor league players are also reported to be facing potential discipline for gambling pending an ongoing investigation, sources confirmed to ESPN. The players would face a one-year suspension for gambling on major league games if they began the year on an MLB team's 40-man roster.
Earlier this year, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani's longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired by the team and later pleaded guilty to charges in relation to a gambling scandal in which he allegedly stealing $16 million from the baseball star. Sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to TMZ Sports that Major League Baseball was reportedly investigating Ohtani's involvement in the gambling scandal at the time of his denial.
Representatives for Ohtani, 29, are reported to have contacted law enforcement authorities and asked them to investigate a "massive theft" of money from the two-way baseball player, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told ESPN on March 21.