Don't Blame Sports Betting For Threats To Lance McCullers, It's 100% On The Scumbag Bettor | Geoff Clark

A rabid sports bettor overseas allegedly threatened to murder Houston Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. and his family after McCullers had a rough outing. Notably, someone overseas cares enough about baseball to bet on it to the extent they would have an unhinged reaction. 

However, that is not what this column is about.  I guess this dude got liquored up and went a little loco after he bet the Astros to beat the Cincinnati Reds on May 10 and McCullers got lit up for 7 runs in the first inning of Houston's 13-9 loss. To me, this moron's first mistake was betting regular season MLB in the first place. 

I haven't even been following baseball lately. I'd rather gamble on the PGA TOUR and NBA Playoffs because betting regular season MLB gives me agita. It's the most random team sport to wager on, especially in this era of baseball. You could bet against the Colorado Rockies daily, but have you seen those odds lately? Not worth it.

McCullers told reporters, "Threatening to find my kids and murder them is a little bit tough to deal with." That's putting it mildly. He continued by saying his five-year-old daughter asked, "Daddy, like, what is threats? Who wants to hurt us? Who wants to hurt me?" So let's stipulate this sports bettor is a hall-of-fame piece of sh*t. There is no defending those actions. Not now. Not ever.

That said, I've seen schools of thought that this was inevitable. Sports betting is so ubiquitous that even someone an ocean away is wagering on America's past-time, you can get some awful reactions from those on the losing end of those wagers. We don't know how big the bet was. 

Related: LANCE McCULLERS JR. HAD TO HIRE 24-HOUR SECURITY IN WAKE OF DEATH THREATS

Are we talking about a "Nuclear Lock" or "Mortgage" bet? Maybe this gambler put up 50+ units on Houston's moneyline and now his or her kid is destined to go to a vocational school instead of a university. Regardless, we don't need to know that. It doesn't matter.

Look, I've been hammered and said some reckless sh*t on X before. Am I proud of it? No. Nonetheless, it's not the end of the world. I once got banned from X for a few weeks. However, I didn't threaten anyone, besides IBM Watson. So, Elon Musk allowed me back on X, and it's "water under the bridge."

Houston Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. received death threats after losing to the Cincinnati Reds May 10. (Photo Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images)

Here's what I don't want to do: Blame sports betting. Gambling can elicit strong emotions. Yet, millions of bets are lost every day, and this behavior is a huge outlier. Was this guy an a**hole degenerate before sports betting? Most likely. 

Did idiotic fans only start making violent threats to professional athletes when sports gambling was widely legalized? Of course not. How about this: Let's make this scumbag face appropriate consequences before demanding even more sports betting legislation. 

Drink responsibly. Drive responsibly. Gamble responsibly. You know what? If you bet enough money on a game that rides on Lance McCullers Jr., who has barely pitched this decade, the problem isn't sports betting. It's the sports bettor. 

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Follow me on X (or Twitter, whatever) @Geoffery-Clark, and check out my OutKick Bets Podcast for more betting content and random rants. I'll add bets to my MLB 2025 betting record via X all season.