Posted in every Major League clubhouse is Rule 21.

"Any player, umpire, or club official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform shall be declared
ineligible for one year," subsection d reads.

"Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible."

The league has long taken a firm averse stance to gambling. Pete Rose, its all-time hits leader, is banned for life after betting on games he managed in the mid-1980s. Eight members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox incurred the same punishment after they were accused of throwing the World Series.

In a 2012 deposition while New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was attempting to legalize sports betting, former commissioner Bud Selig said he was "appalled" while adding gambling is "evil, creates doubt and destroys your sport."

Monday morning, action began by Christie was manifested. The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to overturn the federal ban on sports betting, opening the door for individual states to legalize it.

"Today's decision by the United States Supreme Court will have profound effects on Major League Baseball," the league said in a statement. "As each state considers whether to allow sports betting, we will continue to seek the proper protections for our sport, in partnership with other professional sports. Our most important priority is protecting the integrity of our games. We will continue to support legislation that creates air-tight coordination and partnerships between the state, the casino operators and the governing bodies in sports toward that goal."

Even before Monday's passage, commissioner Rob Manfred had acknowledged a softening of baseball's hardline abhorrence of gambling.

"There is this buzz out there in terms of people feeling that there may be an opportunity here for additional legalized sports betting," Manfred told Yahoo Finance in February. "We are reexamining our stance on gambling. It's a conversation that's ongoing with the owners."

Both Manfred and NBA commissioner Adam Silver have been outspoken during the saga, often lobbying in states that, before the Supreme Court's ruling, were trying to legalize sports betting. One goal was to ensure an "integrity fee" — a one percent cut of all bets that goes directly to the league — was present.

Manfred was vocally opposed to a bill that went to West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice's desk in March. The bill passed without a signature from Justice. It did not contain an "integrity fee."

Moreover, there are the players who play the game on which wagers are made. They, too, would like some of the profit.

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