Sports Betting

Las Vegas was originally a quiet town, but the legalization of gambling (along with relatively lax divorce laws) turned it into a Prohibition-era destination.

On Oct. 29, 1992, then-President George HW Bush signed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, outlawing sports gambling where it was not already legal.

For decades, ESPN kept its distance between reporting on games and talking about gambling lines. Sports teams refused to have franchises in Las Vegas, fearing it would harm the sport. But since 2018, that has changed. ESPN’s personalities regularly pick games, and the company has also launched its own betting app.

While gambling scandals occasionally blew up before 2018, the widespread legalization of sports betting provided athletes with more opportunities to bet on the games they were playing.

As pro and collegiate sports embrace betting (and the revenue that comes with it), each league works diligently to ensure the integrity of the games by hiring private firms to analyze irregular bets. These companies have flagged bets that led to the firing of Alabama’s baseball coach, the suspension of multiple athletes at Iowa and Iowa State, and, most recently, a lifetime ban on former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter by the NBA in April 2024.

This timeline examines memorable moments from three decades of sports-betting history. It breaks down key political moments, as well as some historical moments such as when the internet pushed underground bookmaking online. There are also multiple descriptions of betting scandals from 1989 on.

The Black Sox scandal involved eight 1919 Chicago White Sox members accused of intentionally losing that season’s World Series in exchange for financial kickbacks from gamblers. Ultimately acquitted in court, the players, including star outfielder “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, were permanently banned from baseball.

In the spring of 1984, a reporter at Sports Illustrated answered a call on the newsroom tip line claiming player/manager Pete Rose was gambling on baseball games. That March, the magazine published the bombshell report that led Major League Baseball to investigate and then ban Rose for life.

This is the story that took down Pete Rose. It’s the culmination of five years of investigative journalism by a team of reporters at Sports Illustrated. Major League Baseball spoiled the scoop just days prior to this cover story printing, but the story shocked the sports world and earned Rose a lifetime ban. Three months after this was published, SI followed up with another cover story that included explosive quotes obtained under oath by a former bookmaker saying Rose bet on games he managed.

Donaghy said he struggled with a gambling addiction, causing him to risk so much. In this interview, he explains the story of his scandal, and how the mob led to his eventual arrest.