Japan arrests brother of Texas Rangers’ pitcher Yu Darvish for illegal betting

Japan’s baseball betting scandal ratcheted up a notch on Tuesday following the arrest of the brother of Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish (pictured).

On Tuesday, Japanese police arrested Sho Darvish, the 26-year-old younger brother of the Rangers ace, for his alleged role in an illegal gambling ring that bet on US and Japanese baseball games. Japan allows legal wagers on some forms of racing, but sports betting and most other forms of gambling are strictly illegal.

According to the Japan Times, the bets that led to the arrests were taken on 16 Major League Baseball and 28 Japanese pro baseball games between May 12 and 18, The authorities have yet to reveal whether any of the wagers were placed on Rangers games. Yu Darvish didn’t play at all this season following elbow reconstruction surgery in March.

Sho Darvish was one of eight individuals arrested for their involvement in an Osaka-based ring led by a man named So Naoya. The ring reportedly accepted 1,850 wagers of ¥10k apiece for a total of ¥18.5m (US $154k) on the games in question. Darvish reportedly acted as an agent for his betting clients and received a 10% cut of all wagers he received via a smartphone messaging app. The Nippon News Network reported that police launched their investigation last year following a tipoff in September.