Major League Soccer on Monday handed down lifetime suspensions to Derrick Jones and Yaw Yeboah, concluding an investigation that found both players bet on MLS matches, including wagers tied to Jones receiving a yellow card in the Oct. 19, 2024 Columbus vs. New York Red Bulls match. The ruling permanently bars the pair from competing in the league and stems from gambling activity during the 2024 and 2025 seasons that first came to light through alerts from the league's integrity partners.
According to a league press release that followed those alerts, MLS hired the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP to dig into the betting patterns, as reported by MLSSoccer. Investigators concluded that Jones and Yeboah "engaged in extensive gambling on soccer, including on their own teams," and that they likely passed confidential information to bettors, although the league said it found no evidence that any of the wagers changed the result of a match. Commissioner Don Garber said MLS would keep enforcing its gambling policies, step up education efforts for players and staff, and keep pushing for yellow card wagers to be removed from betting menus in every state.
Reporting by The New York Times filled in the regulatory backdrop, noting that MLS tracks betting across 52 jurisdictions that matter to the league. Of those, 41 currently allow sports wagering, and 33 of the 41 already bar bets on yellow or red cards. The Times reported that 15 jurisdictions adjusted their rules after outreach from MLS, framing the Jones and Yeboah case as part of a broader campaign by leagues and regulators to close prop markets tied to cautions and send-offs.
On the club side, Jones joined the Columbus Crew in late 2023, and the team declined its contract option on the midfielder after the 2025 season, according to the Columbus Crew. Yeboah spent part of 2025 with LAFC before he and the club separated, and MLS has said that neither player is currently under contract with any MLS team; both were placed on administrative leave in October 2025 while the betting review unfolded, according to a prior statement from MLS.
League precedent and broader fallout
The harsh penalties land at a time when gambling violations are drawing zero tolerance across American pro sports. The NBA issued its own lifetime ban to Jontay Porter in 2024 after determining he shared confidential information with bettors and wagered on games, and Major League Baseball has recently levied heavy sanctions in high-profile gambling cases, according to the Associated Press. Together, those cases have pushed leagues to tighten their monitoring, lean on regulated sportsbooks and integrity partners, and expand internal education around what is and is not allowed.
What comes next
Looking ahead, MLS says it plans to broaden education for players, continue working with integrity partners, and urge regulators to scale back risky prop markets, according to reporting from The New York Times. The league did not announce any criminal charges connected to the investigation and says its immediate focus is on enforcement, player education, and regulatory changes aimed at protecting match integrity. For clubs and supporters, the lifetime bans underscore how quickly prop bets built around referee decisions or individual player conduct can move from a novelty to a direct threat to the sport's credibility.
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