Mathew Bowyer, the California illegal bookie who lost $7.9 million gambling at Resorts World Las Vegas, and who took 19,000 bets from Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter who stole more than $16 million from baseball star Shohei Ohtani, entered a guilty plea Friday in California’s Central District court on one count each for illegal gambling, laundering money, and filing a false tax return.
Bowyer has agreed to cooperate with law enforcement as part of the deal. He faces up to 10 years in prison for money laundering, up to five years for illegal bookmaking, and up to three years for the false tax return. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 7, 2025 before Judge John W. Holcomb.
Bowyer’s enterprise operated for at least five years in California and Las Vegas and catered to 700 bettors, according to legal documents.
“Defendant would bring agents, bettors, and associates of the Bowyer Gambling Business to Casino A with him to gamble as a group, some of which were referred to by Casino A employees as the ‘Bowyer Group’” the government’s plea agreement with Bowyer says. “In addition, Casino A’s sports book would at times reach out to defendant and invite defendant to make large bets, to offset the sports book’s risk.”
It’s unknown if Casino A is Resorts World Las Vegas, where Bowyer and associates lost just under $24 million, as first reported by the Current. Resorts World has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
Bowyer also gambled at the Venetian, according to sources at that resort who asked not to be identified in order to provide confidential information.
Bowyer employed agents “who were paid a portion of the losses bettors incurred and paid,” the plea agreement says. “This included at least two hosts at Casino A, who referred at least four new potential bettors to the Bowyer Gambling Business.”
Agents were responsible for “referring clients, recruiting and maintaining their own bettors placing and accepting bets from bettors, demanding and collecting losses from bettors, and distributing winnings to bettors on behalf of the Bowyer Gambling Business. Some agents were themselves also bettors with the Bowyer Gambling Business. Defendant would, at times, pay these agents’ commissions with casino chips from Casino A.”
Bowyer sometimes conducted his illegal business “while gambling in Casino A, both in the Casino A sports book and in private gambling salons at Casino A,” according to the plea agreement. “Defendant would adjust credit lines and discuss payments and bets with clients of the Bowyer Gambling Business by phone while gambling in Casino A.”
The government says at times “Casino A staff would stop play at a table game while defendant took calls and discussed the Bowyer Gambling Business. At other times, defendant would collect payments of proceeds of the Bowyer Gambling Business while gambling at Casino A, including payments in casino chips or in cash in envelopes or bags.”
Bowyer also catered to unnamed sports figures, including a professional baseball player for a Southern California team and the player’s friend, a former minor league player.
The Current was the first to report a year ago that federal authorities were investigating allegations of money laundering by illegal bookmakers in Las Vegas casinos, and first reported that Bowyer’s California home was raided by federal agents in October last year, as was the Las Vegas home of his Resorts World independent host Jennifer Belcastro.
In 2023, the Nevada Gaming Control Board issued a clean bill of health after gamblers R.J.. Cipriani and Brandon Sattler alleged then-Resorts World president and COO Scott Sibella was catering to unsavory gamblers with questionable sources of funds.
Sibella, who was president of MGM Grand before joining Resorts World, entered a guilty plea earlier this year for failing to file a suspicious activity report when known illegal bookmaker Wayne Nix paid MGM more than $100,000 in cash. The hotel paid a fine of $7.45 million for violating anti-money laundering laws.
Months later, the Gaming Control Board opened its own probe into the allegations against MGM and Sibella, but has taken no action.
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Publish date : 2024-08-09 11:49:00
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