Bookmaker to plead guilty in gambling case tied to baseball star Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter

A Southern California bookmaker who took thousands of sports bets from the ex-interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani has agreed to plead guilty to running an illegal gambling business, U.S. authorities announced Thursday.

Mathew Bowyer’s business operated for at least five years in Southern California and Las Vegas and took wagers from more than 700 bettors, including Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said in a statement.

Bowyer has agreed to plead guilty to running an illegal gambling business, money laundering, and subscribing to a false tax return, the statement said. He is expected to enter the pleas in court on Aug. 9.

The prosecution against Bowyer follows several sports betting scandals that emerged this year, including one that prompted Major League Baseball to ban a player for life for the first time since Pete Rose was barred in 1989.

Bowyer’s attorney, Diane Bass, said in March that she’d been working with federal prosecutors to resolve her client’s case and confirmed an October raid at his home. Bass told The Associated Press that ex-interpreter Ippei Mizuhara was placing bets with Bowyer on international soccer but not baseball.

Operating an unlicenced betting business is a federal crime. Meanwhile, sports gambling is illegal in California, even as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.

“Mr. Bowyer never had any contact with Shohei Ohtani, in person, on the phone, in any way,” Bass told the AP in March. “The only person he had contact with was Ippei.”

Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly US$17 million from Ohtani’s bank account.

Federal investigators say Mizuhara made about 19,000 wagers between September 2021 and January 2024.

While Mizuhara’s winnings totaled over US$142 million, which he deposited in his own bank account and not Ohtani’s, his losing bets were around US$183 million — a net loss of nearly US$41 million.

Still, investigators did not find any evidence Mizuhara had wagered on baseball. He is scheduled to be sentenced in October.

Prosecutors said there also was no evidence Ohtani was involved in or aware of Mizuhara’s gambling, and the player is considered a victim and cooperated with investigators.

Separately, the league in June banned San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano for life and suspended four others for betting on baseball legally. Marcano became the first active player in a century banned for life because of gambling.

Rose agreed to his ban in 1989 after an investigation found that he’d placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team.

The league’s gambling policy prohibits players and team employees from wagering on baseball, even legally. MLB also bans betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers. The penalty is determined at the discretion of the commissioner’s office.