Pete Rose is banned from baseball for gambling. The door of every clubhouse warns players that if they gamble on MLB games, they too will be banned.

Yet baseball has continued to accept legalized gambling, or gaming, as no longer being a social taboo, and more importantly, a way to garner increased revenues.

In 2006, the Red Sox were the first MLB club to reach a deal with a state run lottery. The deal was for scratch-it tickets for Red Sox cruise packages and jerseys used in games, as well as more traditional prizes of up to $1 million. At the time of the announcement, tickets were $5.

It should be noted that baseball is far from the only professional sport to offer scratch-its, just the one that has had a strict history opposing gambling, at least from within its ranks. The NBA, NHL, and NASCAR have reached similar agreements for scratch-its. 

Monday, the Red Sox and the Massachusetts State Lottery will make, as they call it, a press conference for a “significant announcement.” With that, you can bet that there will be a new game for Red Sox fans to take a gamble on.

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