The San Francisco Giants’ new partnership with betting company Kalshi is already receiving backlash from fans on social media.
On Wednesday, the Giants’ official social media account posted a highlight of when the team took the lead in an extra-inning game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The post on X said that the sequence “boosted the #SFGiants win probability from 49% to 77%” and prompted the team account’s 1.6 million followers to “download the Kalshi app to trade what’s next.” The post included a link to Kalshi.
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In the clip, Osleivis Basabe reached on a bunt, Rafael Devers was intentionally walked and Bryce Eldridge hit an RBI double. The Giants wound up winning the game by a run with Dylan Smith notching the save. The Giants’ post came about an hour after the final out.
Fans did not take kindly to the team promoting sports betting, and replied to express their dismay.
“Been a Giants fan all my life. Absolutely shameful that we are promoting stupid gambling sites like this. Show some class,” wrote a fan who goes by the name Pomegranate on X.
Added one account that goes by Old Fisherman: “The Kalshi advert at the bottom of your tweet is disgusting. Shame on you for just taking all the money all the time as much as you possibly can every single cent at every moment. You’re supposed to be stewards of this franchise, shame shame shame!”
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The team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Giants are one of five MLB teams, including the Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, to partner with Kalshi. But the Braves appear to be the only other team of the bunch to reference Kalshi in a tweet.
Despite the deep history of pro sports leagues staying out of the gambling business and ostracizing those in the game who partook – Pete Rose received a lifetime ban for gambling on games as the Cincinnati Reds manager – it’s become commonplace across multiple leagues to partner with gambling sites.
“How do we know the games aren’t fixed when the team is being paid to post live betting odds?” wrote another fan on X.
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The Giants themselves already partner with PrizePicks as their “official daily fantasy sports partner,” and Major League Baseball works with DraftKings, FanDuel, MGM Grand and Polymarket.
Steve Tseng, the team’s senior vice president of partnership, previously told the Chronicle that the deal went through MLB’s vetting process.
“The league puts a bunch of restrictions on them,” Tseng said. “We couldn’t do a deal until the league passed this.”
The Giants ran a promotion last year that said if any Giants pitcher struck out 12 batters in a home game, fans could text to enter a promotion that included “a $12,000 free PrizePicks lineup” and tickets to future games at Oracle Park.
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Players across major sports have spoken out about getting threats from dismayed sports bettors, a reality that puts in question leagues and teams’ willingness to participate.
“Just know that you’re complicit if players receive threats from people you encouraged to bet on games,” wrote a fan on X called x-aya.
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This article originally published at Giants fans irate over team soliciting Kalshi wagers with game highlight: ‘Absolutely shameful’.