MLB rules prohibit players from betting on baseball, even legally, and also from betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers. In speaking with ESPN on March 19, 2024, Ippei said that he had never bet on baseball, and instead bet on international soccer, the NFL, the NBA, and college football.

“I never bet on baseball,” he said. “That’s 100 percent. I knew that rule ... We have a meeting about that in spring training.”

After initially claiming that Shohei was aware of his gambling debts, Ippei changed his story on March 20, explaining instead that Shohei had no knowledge of his activities and had never transferred any money to bookmakers.

“I’m terrible (at gambling). Never going to do it again. Never won any money,” Ippei said. “I mean, I dug myself a hole and it kept on getting bigger, and it meant I had to bet bigger to get out of it and just kept on losing. It’s like a snowball effect.”

Ippei said that by the end of 2022, he was $1 million in debt, and his losses continued to increase from there. It's still unclear how aware Shohei was of this activity, and whether he'll face any punishment as a result. For now, though, the Dodgers are trying to keep the focus on the upcoming season. This is already the biggest gambling-related scandal in the world of baseball in decades, and there's a decent chance it could get even bigger.