2 gambling scandals are now threatening pro sports, and the problems may run deeper

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Yesterday in Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani issued his first public comments since last week's explosive news that the Dodgers had fired the Japanese superstar's longtime interpreter after some investigative reporters asked why $4.5 million US had been wired from Ohtani's bank account to an illicit bookmaking operation.

The interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, initially explained that he'd asked Ohtani to pay off his gambling debts for him. But Ohtani's lawyers denied that, claiming Ohtani was instead "the victim of a massive theft" by his friend, and Mizuhara changed his story to match. As Major League Baseball announced it was opening an investigation, fans spent the weekend wondering what the truth really was. Did the sport's biggest star actually get robbed by his pal? Or just help him out of a jam? And what about the reverse (and much darker) possibility: was Mizuhara taking a bullet for Ohtani?

According to Ohtani, it was a theft. Sitting next to a new interpreter yesterday in front of a packed room of reporters and reading in Japanese from prepared notes, Ohtani said he has never gambled on sports and did not instruct Mizuhara to wire money from his bank account to a bookie. "Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has been telling lies," Ohtani said through the new interpreter. "I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf." He did not take questions.

WATCH | Ohtani claims he was victim of theft by friend, interpreter Mizuhara:

At about the same time Ohtani gave his statement, ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that Toronto Raptors centre Jontay Porter was under investigation by the NBA due to "irregularities on prop betting involving him."

If you're not familiar, prop (short for proposition) betting involves wagering on things like whether a certain player will score over or under, say, 14.5 points in a particular game. Or get over or under 5.5 rebounds. Or 3.5 assists, etc. You get the idea.

It may surprise you that bookmakers would offer props on someone as insignificant as Porter, a fringe NBA player who's averaging about four points, three rebounds and a couple of assists in 14 minutes per game this season for the struggling Raptors. But player props are popular with novice gamblers, making them a big profit centre for sports-betting apps like DraftKings, FanDuel and the like that cater to such (mostly money-losing) bettors.

According to ESPN's reporting, two Porter games — on Jan. 26 vs. the L.A. Clippers and March 20 vs. Sacramento — raised red flags. In both instances, bookmakers noticed a sharp increase in action on the "unders" for various Porter props. And those unders paid out after Porter left both games early for medical reasons. He cited an eye injury after playing just four minutes against the Clippers with zero points, three rebounds and one assist, and an illness after only three minutes against Sacramento with no points, no assists and two rebounds.

ESPN reported that a sportsbook industry source said multiple betting accounts tried to bet large amounts on Porter unders for the Clippers game — "upward of $10,000 and $20,000," though bettors are typically limited to a thousand bucks or two on such bets. Porter's salary with the Raptors this season is $415,000. But it's a two-way contract, meaning he makes less if he's demoted to a minor-league team.

The Porter controversy lacks the staggering dollar figures of Ohtani's, but it's arguably much worse. In Ohtani's case, it's plausible that his interpreter indeed simply stole from him and Ohtani has never placed a bet (or asked someone to place a bet for him) with an illegal bookie. And no evidence has emerged tying Ohtani to betting on baseball. But there seems to be pretty compelling circumstantial evidence that Porter may have manipulated his stats in those two games in question. If that turns out to be the truth, it cuts to the very core of the NBA's integrity — even to the essence of pro sports itself. If fans don't believe that games are on the level, the whole thing falls apart.

The Ohtani and Porter scandals are the two biggest stories in North American sports right now, and for good reason. But they're also making us forget a bunch of other troubling gambling-related items that made headlines just this month.

On March 10, the NBA fined Minnesota Timberwolves centre Rudy Gobert $100,000 US for mocking a referee's technical-foul call on him by doing that "money" gesture where you rub your thumb and two fingers together, implying that ref Scott Foster was paid off. Later, Gobert said he believes the recent proliferation of sports betting is having an impact on the outcome of games. "I think it's hurting our game," Gobert said. "I know the betting and all that is becoming bigger and bigger, but it shouldn't feel that way."

Last week, Tyrese Haliburton, one of the NBA's rising young stars, vented to reporters about the dehumanizing effect that gambling can have on players. "To half the world, I'm just helping them make money on DraftKings or whatever," the Indiana Pacers guard said. "I'm the prop, you know what I mean? That's what my social media mostly consists of."