DeWine speaks out about college basketball gambling as a Cleveland Guardians pitcher defends himself

Gov. Mike DeWine is speaking out on the indictment of college basketball players in a points-shaving scheme as a Guardians pitcher involved in a game-fixing case defends himself in court.

On Thursday, federal prosecutors with the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced the indictment of 20 people in a college basketball gambling scheme involving 39 players and 17 schools, with all schools being outside of Ohio.

“The stakes here are far higher than anything on a bet slip. The criminal charges we have filed allege the criminal corruption of collegiate athletics through an international conspiracy of NCAA players, alumni, and professional bettors,” United States Attorney David Metcalf said in a release. “It’s also yet another blow to public confidence in the integrity of sport, which rests on the fundamental principles of fairness, honesty, and respect for the rules of competition. When criminal acts threaten to corrupt such a central institution of American life, the Department of Justice won’t hesitate to step in.”

Following the announcement, DeWine issued a statement, reiterating his call to ban prop betting in college sports.

“There is news today out of Philadelphia of another troubling case involving collegiate prop betting,” DeWine said in a statement. “This is why Ohio and the NCAA worked to ban collegiate prop bets in Ohio almost two years ago in February 2024.

“While I applaud law enforcement and prosecutors for taking today’s action, this disturbing news reinforces that states across the country need to follow Ohio’s lead and heed NCAA President Charlie Baker’s call to ban collegiate prop bets in their states as well,” the Republican governor added.

Last year, DeWine said he regretted legalizing sports betting, saying he had changed his mind after hearing about allegations that two Cleveland Guardians pitchers, Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase, were rigging their pitches as part of a sports betting scheme.

“Look, we’ve always had gambling, we’re always going to have gambling,” he said at the time. “But just the power of these companies and the deep, deep, deep pockets they have to advertise and do everything they can to get someone to place that bet is really different once you have legalization of them.”

Meanwhile, Clase’s attorneys are claiming that text messages, the alleged evidence of Clase participating in gambling, were not about rigging pitches but about a cockfighting operation that Clase ran in the Dominican Republic, according to Cleveland.com.

In a sworn affidavit filed last week, one of the anonymous bettors said that he became friends with Clase and bet on cockfights that Clase ran.

Witnesses allegedly have sworn they never coordinated with Clase or Ortiz, “and expressly testified that they never received any form of information or assistance from Messrs. Clase or Ortiz, directly or indirectly, to assist them in winning a bet,” according to the defense attorneys.

Both Clase and Ortiz have pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery, and money laundering.

Jury selection in the trial is scheduled for May 4.