In a move Major League Baseball hopes will “reduce integrity risks” involved with gambling on baseball, the organization has announced that teams must send their starting player lineups to officials at least 15 minutes before they’re publicly announced, according to the Associated Press. Doing so, the organization claims, will “reduce the risk of confidential information being ‘tipped’.”
Teams have traditionally been allowed to post lineups, which includes the names of players and umpires, on their own schedule, without having to notify MLB ahead of time. Now, the AP notes, the team will have to wait while the info is sent to the organization’s business partners, and distributed among its data partners. Such information is considered crucial for gamblers.
The decision comes less than a year after the Supreme Court struck down a 1992 federal ruling that barred commercial sports gambling in most states. That opened up the estimated $150 billion sports-betting industry to legal providers and corporations, and last fall, MLB announced a gaming partnership with MGM Resorts International, which owns multiple casinos around the world. The organization also recently signed a deal with Sportradar, a sports-data company.
Such endeavors will likely play a transformative role in this year’s baseball season, which begins on March 28th.