Life has come full circle for MLB legend Pete Rose. After receiving a lifetime ban from the MLB in 1989 for gambling on the Reds while he was managing the team, Rose placed Ohio's first legal sports bet on the Reds winning the 2023 World Series on Sunday.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed legal sports betting into law in December 2021, and at the stroke of midnight on Sunday, the state's legal gambling floodgates opened. Rose was at the Hard Rock Casino in Cincinnati to commemorate the occasion and, once again, stake his place in sports betting history.
"I don't know a damn thing about odds," Rose said after placing his bet on the Reds, per Spectrum News. "Go Reds! Go Bengals!"
Since a May 2018 Supreme Court ruling allowed states to legalize and regulate sports gambling as they see fit, over 30 states have moved forward with some form of legalization, with Ohio being one of the most recent. Hard Rock Cincinnati president George Goldhoff thinks the state's decision will play significant dividends, as he expects Ohio to produce $8.8 billion in sport bets in Year 1.
Bet Ohio, meanwhile, is estimating the state will earn $50 million in tax revenue from sports gambling in 2023.
While sports gambling has been become increasingly commonplace in the U.S. -- even within league's themselves by allowing sportsbooks at stadiums -- Rose's standing with the MLB seemingly hasn't changed. Rose recently wrote a letter to commissioner Rob Manfred in an attempt to get reinstated into the league and be considered for the Hall of Fame.
"Despite my many mistakes, I am so proud of what I accomplished as a baseball player," Rose wrote in a letter obtained and published by TMZ. "I am the Hit King and it is my dream to be considered for the Hall of Fame. Like all of us, I believe in accountability. I am 81 years old and know that I have been held accountable and that I hold myself accountable. I write now to ask for another chance."
Manfred shut down Rose's request, telling The Athletic, "I believe that when you bet on baseball from Major League Baseball's perspective, you belong on the permanently ineligible list."
Rose, a 17-time All-Star, three-time World Series champion and 1973 NL MVP, is baseball's all-time leader in hits with 4,256. He played 24 seasons in the MLB, spending the bulk of his career (19 years) in Cincinnati.
