PTI reacts to Shohei Ohtani & Jontay Porter's sports betting scandals

Shoutout to Wilbon to calling like it is despite the financial interests of the network that pays him.

Gambling is going to be a HUGE national mental health economic crime problem. These gambling companies have made deals with colleges for on campus events. This is going to get out of control with in 5 years. It will be the economic equivalent of the opioid epidemic.

Fellas, thanks for having a backbone and pointing out how professional leagues may be compromised. Didn't think ESPN would allow this view to be aired at all.

Pure facts being told in this video, props for releasing it

Thank you Wilbon this Ohtani situation is getting ridiculous he had nothing to do with this he is absolutely telling the truth and is innocent…that nba guy on the other hand is unequivocally guilty and should be charged as such

At this point, I am also worried of Ippei. Does anyone know where he is right now?

I refuse to believe it's always the lower level players getting busted for betting. I think they're just making examples outta these guys and protecting other guys who make the league more money.

Pete Rose needs to be in the HOF now that pro sports support gambling.

I love these two. Such great vibes

Preach!

Unless his interpreter is a multi millionaire its impossible to rack up millions in gambling debt no one will extend that line of credit. Only way story is true is if shohei approved the funds transfer to even place such bets...but that contradicts his statement

I want to know why Ohtani’s publicist and other handlers arranged an interview with ESPN for Ohtani’s INTERPRETER and allowed him to implicate Ohtani in a pay off to an illegal bookie, without first talking to Ohtani, their billion dollar client? Not a call? A text? They didn’t think Gee, this seems kind of important, maybe we should run it but the person that pays us. That strains credulity.

Gambling is a real problem now. It’s advertised everywhere by everyone. A guy in my class was gambling on baseball and he never watched a game. The chance to win 100k off of 100 is enticing to anyone

I can imagine that it's difficult for most Americans who do not know Ohtani's history and upbringing in Japan, including how he was even at the Angels, to believe fully what Ohtani explained is believable and truth. But as a Japanese who has followed him in Japan and as he moved to MLB, I can attest to that what he said is 100% believable.
Ohtani since he was a young boy was very focused with specific goals set and worked diligently on the path to achieving them. His parents and especially his mother was instrumental in providing the support he needed so that he can focus 100% on his tasks, baseball. There have been documentaries on TV on Ohtani as well as his appearances as a guest on TV shows in Japan in which Ohtani explained that his mother took 100% control of his money (all income and expenses including the dealings with his accountant). She gave Ohtani monthly allowance of a little sum of money. Ohtani used team dormitory and team meals 100% to focus on baseball. This is how he lived in Japan as a NPB player. Ohtani is known to be frugal and does not spend money like normal pro athletes do. He is not interested in fashion, clothing, shoes, and cars, and not interested in tangible material stuff. Again, this is very well known fact about him in Japan.
Ippei Mizuhara was smart in that he put himself in the position with Ohtani to take care of all of his personal duties out side of baseball so that Ohtani can just focus on baseball as he did in Japan. The identical set up that he had with his mother. Ippei was a perfect man for it and Ohtani trusted him 100%. So in this context, Ippei had this role for Ohtani since he moved to the USA to become a MLB player. Ippei is not just a translator for Ohtani. Ippei was essentially Ohtani's personal caretaker, personal assistant, consultant, butler, driver, and shopper and managed all aspects of Ohtani’s life outside of baseball, tasked to set him up in the USA. He therefore had helped him open his bank accounts, managed his finances and his accountants, had access to Ohtani's bank accounts and was helping him setting up all the payables, bills for his expenses etc etc. Don't forget, and sadly, Ohtani has no experience managing his own money in the past, he is also oblivious to all the living expenses especially in the USA. Ippei was the perfect friend and paid worker for him to do these tasks. In this set up, Ippei can easily transfer Ohtani's money, even 4.5 million without Ohtani knowing (again, Ohtani has been very naive, trusting and indifferent about money matters, except that he knows that he has been getting 50 to 75 million per year on endorsements and baseball contracts even in the past years, so 4.5 million divided into nine separate transfer may not be so significant in this light and could not be noticeable if he was trusting Ippei to manage) Personal income taxes are lower in the USA than in Japan so who knows, Ohtani would not miss 4.5 million based on his income. Agent is there to deal with the baseball contracts and he is not Japanese so he would not have known his personal contents. This is why Ippei is said to have been paid upwards of $400,000 per year to work for Ohtani, where as a regular personal translator working 9 to 5 is paid $150,000ish for a pro-athlete.
Don't forget that Ippei was in all communications between Ohtani and his team members, including the team management, spokesperson, and lawyers, essentially every non-Japanese speaker on his side, which is everyone except Yamamoto and Ippei. Ippei was in a perfect position to manipulate all information and communications.
So you guys take a rest on speculating and jumping to conclusion about Ohtani in this situation. Eventually the investigation will shed a better light on what I am talking about.

As i get an Ad for ESPN Bet.

How did he get access to the account and how did no one notice 9 separate $500,000 transactions? Why did the bookie allow someone to become indebted $4.5Million who may not be able to pay him? Why did the translator say to ESPN that Shohei gave him the money, then the next night was in the dugout smiling and laughing with him and the Dodgers. Only for them to not challenge/change the story to theft a day later. There are a lot of things in this story that need clarification.

A great start to the 2024 season!

Who know legalization of sport betting might create some issues

I doubt Ippei had total access to Ohtani's money. I am assuming he had an expense account with some number of millions in it that Ohtani entrusted Ippei with to do everything from donating millions to schools in Japan to buying a car for his teammate. An expense account with $10 million in it for bills and charity would be like a $1,000 in petty cash that a company assigns a team leader.

These prop bets are ripe for two way players to take advantage of. Although the over/under for total points scored in a season for Giannis’ brother is eight.

WOOOOO!!!!! Steenbergen's book on display!

Where is the Ohtani representative or agent?

Anyone feel like getting rid of player prop bets might be a partial solution? Just betting team point totals, wins and losses and which team wins each quarter? I know it will probably never come to that but if there is fear of players being improper, getting rid of player prop bets might help allieviate the issue while keeping gambling

Persons who have that kind of wealth look after it.

Tony for the win!!

Shohei is not interested in money or gambling. When he was in Japan, his parents managed his salary, and he didn't know how much he had in his bank account because his parents sent him only 800 dollars every month. He spent only a small portion of the 800. In the U.S., Ippei, in stead of Shohei's parents, was taking care of Shohei, like a baby, especially because Shohei only wanted to concentrate on baseball and become the best player. Furthermore, he is not good at English. He can handle simple daily conversations but cannot understand or espresso his views on something complex in English. It's much more difficult to do things in a foreign language than people imagine. Many of my colleagues in Japan are from English-speaking countries. Although they have been in Japan for ages, they are still unable to function well in Japanese society. Many of them are so ignorant due to the language barrier, and their Japanese spouses and friends do everything for them as if they were babies. So, I cannot blame Ohtani.

The bottom line is that Ohtani must be the dumbest person alive for using his own name on the transaction NINE TIMES.

6:00 (plus) This is the story…

Tooooooooo many questions. Does anyone know anyone who gambles at this level?

Amazing take fellas!! So many stupid people saying just senseless things on this scandal.. you guys always so logical

I'd care a lot more if betting wasn't funding sports and sports media right now. Bets should be localized by state and a soft ban on betting ads. Tone it way down. Money doesnt need to just go to a few companies. Should be a few companies in each state.

Who signed the bank wire request and what bank official approved it? $500K wire transfer isn't handled by a low level bak official.

Porter is the player that got caught (if indeed he is found guilty). Don't tell me he was the only one out there that was trying to make money for himself or others using those means. But he will be the one that gets thrown under the bus cause he ain't a big name player (just like the NBA insisting there isn't a doping problem in the NBA but we know they don't check players in the offseason for a reason)

What djonte did was nothing short of insider trading which is illegal. If there is no integrity in the game itself it’s useless to even have sports betting bc then that means snyone can fix the game.

The pundit will tell us that there is nothing to see here, that we don't understand how athletes live. Very myopic view of the situation. Sports media is like political media, they are there to repeat the truth they want until we accept it.

If he sole the money from Ohtani, WHERE IS THE ARREST WARRANT ON HIM???

“If we get caught, you’re taking the blame” Ohtani

Ohtani is not being honest here. How does his translator able to access his personal finances? But I understand, the MLB wants to sweep this under the rug because he is a TV ratings megastar.

I have zero doubts the NBA, through their refs, does their best to arrange the outcome of games, especially in the playoffs. Scott Foster is a total crook! No doubt!!

I wanted to see how ohtani would be cleared kuz he is basically the face of BB. And he helps MLB internationally. Soo his buddy says he had "no knowledge of what he was doing".

Ippei took the fall

MainStream Media are ALWAYS TOLD WHAT TO SAY n if you dont believe them then YOU ARE WEIRD OR A CONSPIRACY THEORIST HTF DOES THAT MAKE SENSE

You have no marbles!!!!Huevos?!?

Rodrigues is a known womanizer 😂😂😂
Ohtani gave up $200M to play mlb 2yrs before he’s eligible for international transfer 😂😂😂😂
He’s not American and he doesn’t think like a greedy American.

Ye

I’m sorry but this is ridiculous. Ohtani get’s the benefit of the doubt? Because he doesn’t speak English? So now we can make the NBA the face of the problem.