The Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), and National Football League (NFL) have all made commitments to enforce a top stake of $200 on certain prop bets, a term referring to a wager on an individual performance within a match. Several betting operators, including BetMGM and Bet365 have agreed to the motion. What began as individual incidents of match-fixing is now prompting the industry to ask itself how prop-bet markets are priced, supervised, and limited.
The major move comes after recent Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) operations to root out corruption in U.S. sports betting made international headlines.
Prop bets are notoriously hard to monitor and often tempt athletes to make illegal wagers, even when they do not directly influence the outcome of the game. Even a minor deviation in expected performance can influence the outcome of certain prop markets. The MLB believes the cap will ward off any match-fixing schemes given that the amount at stake is relatively low.
The earth-shattering revelations that lead to stake caps
The issue of match-fixing returned to the spotlight last month when the FBI announced an operation that led to the arrests of several NBA figures, including Chauncey Billups, a former coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, Terry Rozier, a player for Miami Heat, and former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Damon Jones. The investigation, which began in 2019, led to a total of 34 people being charged with multiple federal offences.
According to an FBI indictment announced by Joseph Nocella Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York: “This was a sophisticated conspiracy involving athletes, coaches, and intermediaries who exploited confidential information for profit. Insider betting schemes erode the integrity of American sports, and this Office will continue in its strong tradition of holding accountable anyone who seeks to corrupt sports through illegal means.”
More recently, the FBI announced a separate case involving the Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz. According to the indictment, which was unsealed by federal prosecutors on Sunday 9 November: “They defrauded the online betting platforms where the bets were placed. And they betrayed America’s pastime.”
Which operators will implement the market cap and how much will it cost them?
MLB said the agreement covers several major operators, including Bally’s, Bet365, BetMGM, and Underdog, and it is likely to prove a significantly expensive commitment to those operators.
The impact of capping a sports betting stake was confirmed in a report conducted by Citizens JMP Securities, an investment banking and asset management firm in 2024. It focused on the impact of banning college player props in U.S. legal sports betting markets, estimating it would cost revenues of more than $200million. (4) This research came as a result of action from states like Maryland and Ohio, which stopped sportsbooks offering prop bets on college athletes as a means to protect underage athletes from intimidation and the pressure of making plays due to wagers placed on them.
What has been the reaction from the wider betting business?
While some in the industry see the long term benefits of protecting the sector and its relationship with the likes oft NBA and MLB (5), others believe the market cap could prove to be a safety measure that backfires.
Christian Genetski, president of Flutter Entertainment’sFanDuel, said: “This initiative illustrates our unwavering commitment to building a legal and regulated market that roots out abuses by those who seek to undermine fair competition and damage the integrity of the games we love.”
However, Joe Maloney, senior vice president of strategic communications at the American Gaming Association, told online financial news and information website MarketWatch: “If you eliminate the ability for that fan to have that type of engagement, you’re giving a green light to that fan to go get that action someplace else. Betting with an illegal sportsbook without such betting limits is just a click away.”
Can the scourge of match-fixing ever end in US Sport?
Despite the recent high-profile cases of corruption,, there has been some good progress in combatting it, at least according to a January 2025 Annual Integrity Report by sports data company Sportradar. (6)
It found 1,108 incidents of potential match manipulation across more than 850,000 monitored events during 2024, down by 17% from the year before. Additionally, the report found that the “rate of suspected match-fixing is now down to one in 615 events globally, a marked improvement from one in every 467 during 2023.”
Those improvements were put down to a number of factors, including; improvement to AI technology, better access to account data to flag improper market fluctuations, and an increased vigilance from leagues and governing bodies.
It remains to be seen whether recent events will up the ante of lawmakers in the never-ending battle to eliminate corruption from professional sport or if it’s a major setback for the operation.
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Source 1: Sportico: https://www.sportico.com/law/analysis/2025/mlb-pitch-prop-bets-cap-1234876306/
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Source 2: Justice Department of the United States Government: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/current-and-former-national-basketball-association-players-and-four-other-individuals
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Source 3: ESPN: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46906636/guardians-emmanuel-clase-luis-ortiz-indicted-pitch-rigging
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Source 4: Covers: https://www.covers.com/industry/investment-firm-estimates-200-million-loss-if-college-player-props-banned?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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Source 5: SCGManagement: https://sccgmanagement.com/sccg-articles/2025/11/11/capping-micro-prop-bets-mlbs-new-200-pitch-wager-limit-and-which-sports-markets-could-be-next/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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Source 6: Sport Radar: https://goto.sportradar.com/l/533382/2025-01-08/7q1tbf/533382/1736355595fvYFfMLa/Sportradar_Integrity_in_Action_2024.pdf
