When MLB and the players union hammered out a new collective bargaining agreement, players negotiated three new concessions pertaining to sports gambling, according to US Bets.
In July 2019 Benjamin Tucker Patz, a professional gambler known as Parlay Patz, threatened to kill members of the Tampa Bay Rays after they lost a game to the Chicago White Sox. Although such threats are rare, that they exist at all in a new era where sports betting is becoming so prevalent is reason enough to take steps to protect players.
The new CBA addresses this: “All clubs will be required to institute enhanced ballpark safety measures [and] a hotline will be developed for the purpose of reporting threats made against players or their families relating to sports betting.”
Another sports betting related issue deals with the sale of biometric data: the clause states “it shall be illegal for Major League Baseball and any club to sell and/or license a player’s confidential medical information, personal biometric data, or any nonpublic data used to evaluate player performance in practices or training sessions.”
The third clause gives players the right to sign deals and partnerships with gambling operators in the same manner teams and leagues do. MLBPA negotiator Bruce Meyer said last week that the new CBA “allows players to profit from their names and likeness in new ways.”
