Yomiuri Giants President Hiroshi Kubo said Tuesday that team officials will question all of the team’s players after it was revealed the day before that minor league pitcher Satoshi Fukuda bet on games.

The Central League club reported receiving calls from fans criticizing Fukuda for gambling on baseball.

Calls also poured in to Nippon Professional Baseball’s commissioner’s office, but many of them expressed hopes that the organization will do its utmost to get to the bottom of the scandal.

On Monday, NPB Commissioner Katsuhiko Kumazaki vowed to thoroughly investigate the incident.

On Monday, Kubo told a news conference at the Giants’ parent company that Fukuda lost money betting on Japanese summer high school championship games and professional games in North America and Japan — including those involving the Giants. The club was considering filing an accusation of illegal gambling with the police.

An acquaintance of Fukuda contacted Giants officials on Sept. 30, saying the pitcher had not paid his gambling debts. Upon investigation, a lawyer retained by the club found that Fukuda had been enticed to wager on games by an employee at a tax accounting firm who had been introduced to him by fellow Giants pitcher Shoki Kasahara.

Fukuda reportedly lost a large amount of money betting on high school championship games at the beginning of August that he bet on 10 NPB games and 10 Major League Baseball games in an attempt to erase his losses. The NPB games allegedly included three or four involving Yomiuri. In all, Fukuda is believed to have lost substantially more than ¥1 million.

The 32-year-old pitcher spent the entire season with the Giants’ minor league team, so there is no suspicion that he fixed games he bet on, but his actions were still a violation of the NPB charter, requiring the team to notify the commissioner’s office.

The Giants, which have made it into this season’s playoffs, have suspended both Fukuda and Kasahara.

Olympics minister Toshiaki Endo said Tuesday the incident is “despicable and I feel (the whole situation is) truly regrettable.”