Pat Hoberg, Major League Baseball (MLB) Umpire, has been fired for sharing sports betting accounts with a professional poker player.
According to an MLB press release, the investigation found that Hoberg was sharing accounts with a friend who bet on baseball. The former umpire deleting messages during the investigation also resulted in disciplinary action.
Hoberg denied ever betting on baseball and was unaware that the professional poker player was betting on baseball. The MLB did not find evidence of Hoberg or his associates manipulating game outcomes.
While he isn’t being dismissed for betting on baseball or affecting the integrity of games he umpired, he has been fired on the basis of poor judgment by sharing accounts in the first place.
MLB’s investigation started in February 2024 after a licensed sports betting operator notified MLB that Hoberg had opened a sportsbook account on his own on January 30, 2024.
Suspicions arose when the operator found that the electronic device had been used to open a different sportsbook account with a different name.
The investigation found that the sportsbook accounts on Hoberg’s devices were used to make 417 bets on the friend’s accounts between December 2020 and January 15, 2024.
The bets placed amounted to nearly $490,000 and lost over $50,000 in aggregate. A second sportsbook account showed that Hoberg’s devices were used to place 112 bets, totaling over $222,000 in bets placed and over $20,000 lost.
It’s important to note that none of the bets placed through Hoberg’s devices were on baseball. Following this, Hoberg was removed from Spring Training and was inactive for the 2024 Championship Season.
On May 24, 2024, Michael Hill, senior vice president of on-field operations, stated that Hoberg could not be trusted to “maintain the integrity of the international game of baseball.”
After being notified that he would be terminated on May 31, 2024, Hoberg appealed to Commissioner Manfred and held an in-person hearing to review his situation.
Manfred said: “The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules governing sports betting conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans.
“An extensive investigation revealed no evidence that Mr. Hoberg placed bets on baseball directly or that he or anyone else manipulated games in any way.
“However, his extremely poor judgment in sharing betting accounts with a professional poker player he had reason to believe bet on baseball and who did, in fact, bet on baseball from the shared accounts, combined with his deletion of messages, creates at minimum the appearance of impropriety that warrants imposing the most severe discipline.
“Therefore, there is just cause to uphold Mr. Hoberg’s termination for failing to conform to high standards of personal conduct and to maintain the integrity of the game of baseball.
The incident raises questions about wider gambling regulations and how they may not be keeping pace with the rapid expansion of legal betting across the US. The investigation into Hoberg’s bets isn’t the first and won’t be the last into a leading sports figure’s secret wagering.
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