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TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Just when we thought it was safe to start enjoying spring sports of baseball and the end of the basketball season, the professional ranks are being rocked with a couple of sports betting scandals.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ young superstar Shohei Ohtani is in the middle of a betting scandal involving his former interpreter, but there is strong suggestion that Ohtani was the one actually betting on games. Added to that situation is the NBA’s Jontay Porter who plays for the Toronto Raptors. Porter is not a superstar but you can bet on all players and all kinds of predicted stats.

Porter is suspected of intentionally playing poorly – below his predicted performance – to throw his stats. Perhaps not coincidentally, the pool – meaning the amount of money bet on him to perform under was the largest money maker in the NBA on that particular night.

Some have pointed out that because sports betting is legal in many states that the spotlight was greater on Porter’s performance than it would have normally been if betting systems were less technically advanced. Which may be true but the temptation for players to bet or to have others bet for them is great and the payout potential is great.

So these leagues must create greater control of players behavior, meaning, heavier penalties, up to and including them being banned from the game. When money is the lure, only the potential for removing all money is the effective deterrent. These leagues need to send a message now and that will make for a Better East Texas.