The bookie who accepted millions of dollars in bets from Shohei Ohtani’s convicted interpreter said he’s never “seen anything like” Ippei Mizuhara's betting habits.
Key Takeaways
- Mathew Bowyer said Mizuhara was betting “all the time.”
- Ohtani’s interpreter is serving a 57-month sentence after stealing $17 million from the Dodgers star.
- Bowyer laundered his bookmaking profits through “any and all” Las Vegas casinos.
Mathew Bowyer told ESPN during a “30 for 30” podcast episode released on Tuesday that he could tell within the first 30 days of accepting his action that Mizuhara had a gambling problem because Bowyer said he himself is a compulsive gambler.
“He was absolutely bananas, the amount of bets he was making,” Bowyer said of Mizuhara during the episode. “Listen, I gambled bigger than most, right? I sleep, you know, I have a life too.”
Enjoying Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account“He definitely was betting all night long, all the time. I've never seen anything like it.”
Racking up losses
Mizuhara is serving a 57-month prison sentence in Pennsylvania for pleading guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return. He admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from the bank account of Ohtani, one of the biggest stars in MLB, when he played for the Angels.
Mizuhara was a close friend of Ohtani’s and had access to his bank account. He even impersonated Ohtani to get the bank to approve transactions.
Mizuhara said he had a gambling problem, which federal prosecutors disputed last year. Mizuhara racked up more than $40 million in net gambling losses and was sending Bowyer $500,000 payments every two weeks from Ohtani’s account, paying back more than $16 million before the scheme was discovered.
Ohtani claimed he had no knowledge that his interpreter was stealing from him, and the Los Angeles Dodgers star was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing by federal prosecutors and MLB.
Digging a hole
Mizuhara met Bowyer at a private poker game in San Diego in 2021 through former Angels player David Fletcher. Mizuhara wagered on NBA, NHL, college football, college basketball, and international soccer games. The interpreter claims he never bet on baseball.
“He was trying to dig out a hole, and that hole made him even more poor of a gambler because he's betting big payout stuff,” Bowyer told ESPN.
The Southern California bookie served seven months in prison before being released in May. Bowyer pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including running an illegal gambling business.
Involving Vegas
Bowyer laundered $22 million of his bookmaking profits through what he said was “any and all” Las Vegas casinos during more than 30 trips between 2019 and 2021.
“Sometimes I would gamble solely to turn a cashier's check into cash, so that I could wash money,” Bowyer said. “Let's say I lost 70 grand, but I brought $500,000. I got $430,000 coming to me, right?”
The Nevada Gaming Commission banned Bowyer from the state’s casinos and fined operators millions of dollars for allowing him to launder money without “adequately verifying his source of income as required by the Bank Secrecy Act,” the commission said.
Resorts World Las Vegas settled for a $10.5-million fine. The Venetian was fined $7.2 million. Caesars Entertainment paid out $7.8 million in a settlement. MGM Resorts was fined $8.5 million.
