You can’t do that
Professional golf is the latest sport to feel negative effects of sports betting, as two players have been suspended for gambling violations. Vince India and Jake Staiano, who golf on the Korn Ferry Tour, were suspended by the PGA Tour for placing wagers on PGA Tour events.
Though neither player bet on tournaments in which they played, the PGA Tour said on Friday that they violated the Tour’s “Integrity program.” India has been suspended from PGA Tour-sanctioned events for six months, while Staiano has been banned for three months.
The PGA Tour did not say exactly what the two men bet on or for how much. It also did not explain why India’s punishment was harsher than Staiano’s.
The Korn Ferry Tour is the PGA’s developmental tour, a minor league of sorts. Players can earn their PGA Tour card through their performance during the season.
Vince India, 34, has played in 176 events since joining the Korn Ferry tour in 2015, winning $569,844 in prize money. He has never won a tournament or finished runner-up. He is currently 129th on the Tour’s points list. 27-year-old Jake Staiano only just joined the Tour last year and has played in 17 events, never making the top ten in any of them. He is ranked 169th.
The top 30 players at the end of the season, which concluded earlier this month, earn PGA Tour membership for the 2024 season. The top player also becomes fully exempt on the PGA Tour and automatically earns a spot in the US Open and 2024 Players Championship.
Betting fallout in hockey, as well
The announcement from the PGA Tour comes just a day after the NHL suspended the Ottawa Senators’ Shane Pinto for 41 games – half of a season – for gambling policy violations. It is the first gambling-related suspension in the NHL since PASPA was overturned in 2018, paving the way for states to legalize sports betting.
It is not known, at least to the public, what exactly Pinto did to warrant the suspension. The NHL said, “The League’s investigation found no evidence that Pinto made any wagers on NHL games.”
The Ottawa Sun reported that Pinto had an online gambling account in the United States that an gambling integrity company flagged and reported to the NHL. The only thing the Sun said about it that would give any sort of clue was that it was marked for “unusual activity.”
Pinto has apologized and has taken full responsibility. The team said that it will welcome him back and “embrace him as one of our own.”