SEATTLE − While Major League Baseball is openly embracing a strong revenue stream from gambling, and plans to relocate the Oakland A’s to Las Vegas, commissioner Rob Manfred said it will not affect Pete Rose’s lifetime ban in 1989 for gambling on baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds.
“I think people believe we make more money off gambling than we actually do,” Manfred said Tuesday before the All-Star Game. “But I think for us, we’ve always approached the issue of gambling from the proposition that players and other people who are in position to influence the outcome of the game are going to be subject to a different set of rules than everyone else. Pete Rose violated what is rule 1 of baseball and the consequences of that are clear in the rules.’’
Rose has applied for reinstatement numerous times, and continues to hold out hope, but it appears that his lifetime ban will remain permanent..
There have been four NFL suspensions since the dawn of legalized gambling, but no baseball player or manager has been suspended since Rose’s lifetime ban.
“I think baseball’s rules, procedures, monitoring activities surrounding gambling are the best in their class,’’ Manfred said. “It always has been because of the history of the game, and it’s kind of the No. 1 priority for us.
“With respect to protecting the integrity of the game. I don’t see Las Vegas as any different than any other city in America. You know, many, many cities now have sports books that are accessible, and quite frankly, follow the business right?
So, I don’t see that Vegas is different than any other.’’
