PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – JULY 14: Bryce Harper #3 of the Philadelphia Phillies warms up before the 2026 MLB All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park on July 14, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
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Coming out of the All-Star break, the Philadelphia Phillies remain firmly in postseason position entering the second half, making any off-field development involving superstar slugger Bryce Harper especially noteworthy. The club continues to rely on Harpers bat to push it toward another October run.
And after Harper became the subject of scrutiny over a personalized video sent to a FanDuel user that recently made headlines, there were some questions about how much the first baseman might have known about that users growing losses or the gambling addiction he would later claim in a lawsuit was being encouraged by the platform.
With those questions swirling, it seemed as if Harper might have broken one of Major League Baseballs rules regarding sportsbook endorsements.
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Harper publicly responded to the controversy after that video became public, writing on social media that he believed he was simply recording a personalized Cameo-style message, rather than participating in a sportsbook promotion.
“The Philadelphia Phillies All-Star first baseman said in a statement posted on Instagram that he created a personalized 21-second video on behalf of FanDuel but would not have done so had he known the online sportsbook allegedly intended to use it to entice VIP customer Terry Thompson to continue gambling,” Steve Henson wrote for the Los Angeles Times. “Thompson sued FanDuel … in March, alleging that the sportsbooks caused him to lose about $1.6 million while betting an estimated $18.5 million over a four-year period.”
Shortly after Harper offered his side of the story, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced that there was no violation of the rules outlined in the current collective bargaining agreement, indicating that the player would face no punishment from MLB despite the controversy.
“I think the important thing is that Bryce‘s activity was not a violation of the basic agreement,” Manfred said in a meeting with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Scott Lauber. “We made sure about that, and we’ll continue to try to figure out exactly how we ended up, where we ended up on that.”
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The commissioners comments effectively ended speculation that Harper could face league discipline over the incident.
As Manfred noted, MLBs current rules specifically permit certain relationships between players and sportsbooks.
“MLBs collective bargaining agreement, which will expire Dec. 1, allows players to appear in advertisements or make personal appearances for casinos, racetracks, or sportsbook companies, as long as they do not encourage betting on baseball,” Lauber added.