MLS has dropped the harshest penalty it has, barring Derrick Jones and Yaw Yeboah for life after an investigation found both players bet on soccer, including on their own teams.
Betting alerts sparked the case
Major League Soccer said the case began after suspicious wagering alerts were flagged by its monitoring partners. That led to an external investigation covering betting activity during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
The league placed Jones and Yeboah on administrative leave in October 2025 while the review played out. After going through the evidence, MLS concluded that both players had engaged in extensive betting on soccer matches, with some wagers tied to games involving their own clubs.
One incident sat at the heart of the probe. MLS said both players bet on Jones to receive a yellow card during Columbus Crew’s match against the New York Red Bulls on October 19, 2024. Jones was booked in that game.
MLS also said investigators found the pair likely exchanged conditional or inside information linked to the bets. Even so, the league added that it found no evidence the wagers changed the outcome of any match.
Why MLS came down so hard
For any sports league, betting by players is bad enough. Betting on your own team pushes it into a different category, and betting on a specific in-game event like a yellow card is the sort of detail that makes integrity officers break into a cold sweat.
Commissioner Don Garber said MLS remains committed to protecting match integrity and will keep enforcing its gambling rules. He also said the league plans to keep pushing against yellow card betting in states where that market is allowed.
That last point matters beyond this case. Player prop bets on cards, fouls or other narrow match events create obvious risk because they can be influenced by one person in a way a final score usually cannot. For the average bettor, it is another reminder that some markets carry a lot more baggage than they might seem to at first glance.
Careers in MLS are over
Both players were teammates with the Columbus Crew during the 2024 season. The review also looked at activity from 2025, when Yeboah was with Los Angeles FC.
Jones played for several MLS clubs during his career, including the Philadelphia Union, Nashville SC, Houston Dynamo, Charlotte FC and Columbus. Yeboah joined MLS in 2022 when he signed with the Crew.
Neither man was under contract with an MLS side when the bans were announced. Columbus declined Jones’ option in November, while Yeboah left LAFC earlier this year and later signed with Chinese Super League club Qingdao Hainiu.
Columbus also issued a statement condemning the conduct and said the club had cooperated with MLS throughout the investigation.
Another warning shot for pro sports
The Jones-Yeboah case lands in the middle of a wider crackdown across North American sports. Leagues have been eager to cash in on betting partnerships, but they have also had to police the fallout when players cross the line.
MLS has dealt with this before. Felipe Hernandez of Sporting Kansas City was suspended in 2021 after betting on two MLS matches that did not involve his own team. He later ended up on administrative leave again in 2024 before his contract was terminated.
Elsewhere, Major League Baseball handed Tucupita Marcano a lifetime ban in 2024 for wagering on baseball. The NBA also banned Jontay Porter for life after finding he shared inside information tied to betting activity.
College sports have had their own mess as well, with the NCAA ruling several basketball players ineligible in betting-related cases that included manipulation and information-sharing.
What it means for players and bettors
For MLS, this is about drawing a bright line. For players, it is a warning that leagues are watching closely and that even prop-style bets can blow up a career.
For bettors, the story is a useful reality check. Sportsbooks may package every market as just another option on the board, but leagues do not view all wagers the same way. A yellow-card prop is not just a niche flutter when the athlete involved can influence it himself.
That is why this case will linger. The league says match results were not altered, yet the idea that players may have bet on a booking and shared information around it is enough to rattle trust. In a business built on credibility, that alone is plenty to trigger the maximum punishment.
