Guilty as charged
Ohtani interpreter admits fraud charges, college prop bets bans gain traction, Thai casinos, IG Index claims +More
Former interpreter of MLB star pleads guilty to tax and bank fraud charges.
In +More: Mexican hopes, sweepstakes further reading.
Analysis: college player prop ban gains head of steam.
Thailand: integrated resorts get the cabinet go-ahead.
Multimillionaire claims IG Index left him hard done by.
Something is bubbling behind my back.
Guilty, Your Honour
Ippei, Ippei, shake: The former interpreter of baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani has pleaded guilty in a California courtroom to two counts of bank and tax fraud, which could land him a 33-year jail term. Ippei Mizuhara will be sentenced in October.
Open and shut case: The MLB was quick to pronounce the matter closed, saying the LA Dodgers star was the “victim of fraud and this matter has been closed.”
Nothing to see here: The Dodgers, meanwhile, said in a statement it was “pleased” Ohtani and the team could now “put this entire matter behind them.”
Recall, the scandal erupted after it emerged $4.5m in wire transfers had been sent from the megastar’s bank account to an illegal bookie. The interpreter racked up gambling debts with a Southern California bookmaker, Matthew Bowyer, who is under federal investigation.
Stress test: Ohtani said in a statement that the “full admission of guilt” had brought “important closure.”
In court, Mizuhara said he worked for Ohtani, had access to his bank account and after falling into debt over his gambling “went ahead and wired money for my gambling debt with [Ohtani’s] bank account."
According to the federal authorities, Mizuhara placed some 19,000 wagers – none of which were on baseball – from Dec21 to Jan24 without Ohtani’s knowledge, losing a net $40m.
The plea agreement said Mizuhara impersonated Ohtani in phone conversations with bank representatives, looking to verify wire transfers on at least 24 occasions.
Mizuhara initially told ESPN that Ohtani oversaw the wire transfers, but later walked back his account and said the star had no knowledge of his gambling activities.
The Porter case
The Long con: Meanwhile, an arrest has been made in the Jontay Porter case. Long Phi ‘Bruce’ Pham, alleged to have colluded with Porter, was nabbed while trying to board a flight to Australia on a one-way ticket, according to a complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court.
He is accused of working with Porter to place prop bets.
Federal prosecutors allege the NBA star had racked up large gambling debts in the beginning of the year to co-conspirators.
To pay the debts off, he was encouraged to throw games in order for certain bets to hit.
Further reading: Another pro athlete is banned for life for gambling. He won’t be the last. The New York Times.
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+More
Mexico: An injunction against a proposal banning new casinos with slot machines and permit renewals for existing casinos has been granted by a federal judge, who said the measure was unconstitutional.
More than 400 casinos in the country can continue operating and renew their permits, according to reports from local media El Clarinete.
Read across: Claudia Sheinbaum’s victory in Mexico’s general election has raised hopes within the gaming industry that existing gambling regulations will be updated and complementary rules and licensing criteria, previously prohibited by the outgoing government, will be reorganized and standardized. In LosIngresos+Mas.
Denmark: The state gambling authority has updated its reporting requirements and anti-money laundering guidance. The regulations will be used to supplement previously issued guidance from the financial authorities and will focus on operators, employees and relevant stakeholders.
Northern & Shell, the parent company of the New Lottery Company, has brought a lawsuit against the UK Gambling Commission, claiming the lottery awarding process was mishandled. N&S is claiming £20m in damages.
Licensing updates
Continent 8 has gained approval from the Nevada Gaming Control Board to deliver its services via a data center that will be located in the state.
TheLotter has received regulatory approval to offer services in New Jersey, the fourth provider to gain a license in the state after rivals Jackpocket, Lotto.com and Jackpot.com.
What we’re reading
Chumbawamba: A Georgia woman has filed a class action lawsuit alleging that sweepstakes operator VGW is offering illegal online gambling products to residents in the state. In SBC Americas.
That’s some pivot: An app that was supposed to act as a bank to “gamify” savings and encourage sound financial decisions somehow found a way to turn into… a sweepstakes casino. In Casino Reports.
Appointments
The Coalition for Fantasy Sports has appointed JT Foley as its first executive director. Foley was most recently VP of government relations at LVS.
“JT joining will ensure that the Coalition will continue to be a powerful voice on behalf of fantasy sports enthusiasts across the country,” said Adam Wexler, CEO at PrizePicks.
The main members of CFS are Underdog Fantasy, PrizePicks, Betr and Dabble. DraftKings and FanDuel are not members.
AML Analyst – Johannesburg
Denmark Compliance Officer – Malta
Data Protection Officer – Cyprus
Player prop bans
Banned aid: A key policy plank of the National Collegiate Athletics Association calling for states to enact bans on college prop bets first proposed late last year is gaining traction, with a number of states – including Ohio, Maryland, Vermont and Louisiana – moving to end wagers of this type.
Not a big college town: The industry has lightly pushed back against the NCAA’s efforts. As Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden said during the company’s Q1 earnings call, college prop bets represent a “very small percentage of handles for college games and college football.”
“I would view it as largely a nonissue,” he added.
“We have experience with some states already prohibiting this, and our volumes in those states on college football overall versus the states that allow it are really not materially different as a percentage of total wagers in those states.”
Signal and the noise: Yet, despite it being a “nonissue,” there is a lot of noise about the prohibitions. That noise often points to the black market, which already possesses numerous advantages (and disadvantages) over legal, regulated markets.
By this reckoning, giving up on college bets of any form hands the black market operators an advantage they are sure to take up.
Some bettors may turn to offshore options if player props aren’t available at licensed sportsbooks. Others may shift their bets to different areas, which is what Snowden expects to see.
“I think people who are looking to bet player props for college… may just make wagers on game outcomes or NFL props as opposed to college player props,” he said.
Blame game: The NCAA has correctly shifted from player harassment concerns to a combination of player harassment and integrity concerns. The former makes zero sense on its own.
Prohibiting player props doesn’t remove the athlete’s performance from the equation.
Unhinged bettors will still blame the player who misses a spread-covering free throw at the end of a game or takes a knee at the one-yard line to run out the clock instead of walking into the end zone.
Playing the fool: Harassment is a serious issue, but the concerns that player prop bets are to blame don’t make much sense – fans don’t even need to have a bet on the game to act foolishly and harass players from the stands.
That is where the slippery slope comes in, as player prop bet bans won’t reduce player harassment.
It’s a fruitless campaign that will likely cause the NCAA to take a second step and perhaps a third and a fourth.
Don’t worry, be happy: As former Ohio state Rep. Dan Dodd put it: “The NCAA is not appeased by this. This was a test case, and they will undoubtedly press for a full ban on all college athletics both in Ohio and outside of it. Given lack of oversight in the process, operators are helpless to change it absent a change in rules/statute.”
Oh, Mr Porter: On the other hand, integrity concerns make perfect sense. As the Jontay Porter scandal indicates, player props are easily manipulated markets. Couple that with the ability to mix them in a single-game parlay and, suddenly, a $5,000 wager isn’t a $5,000 payout. It could bring a payout of 5-10x that amount.
An overlooked aspect is that once a player manipulates a market, the knowledge of that can be leveraged to make them do it again – and again and again.
That appears to be what happened in Porter’s case, as he ran up gambling debts and was encouraged to clear those debts by withdrawing from certain games prematurely to make sure bets on his performance were successful, per ESPN.
Make the punishment fit the crime: Meanwhile, LegalSportsReport said lawmakers pursuing a ban on college props in North Carolina sports betting are pivoting their objective from bans to punishments.
State Sen. Julie Mayfield told LSR she would be satisfied with creating consequences for bettors who harass athletes.
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Thai casinos go ahead
Thai me up, Thai me down: Thailand is set to press ahead with plans to legalize resort casinos as part of entertainment zones designed to generate more tourism.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has ordered the finance ministry to draft a comprehensive bill that will lay the legal foundation for establishing the complexes.
Coining it: Recall, a parliamentary committee completed the draft of a bill to legalize integrated casino resorts within the country for the first time in mid-March. They endorsed a study that estimated IRs, comprising casinos and other services, would help generate tax revenue of ~$328m in the first year of their operations.
The move comes despite all forms of gambling being illegal in Thailand to this point.
IG Index lawsuit
The cheek of it: A UK property multimillionaire who racked up trading losses with spread better IG Index – after taking up positions betting in support of an activist investor campaign against transport operator FirstGroup – is claiming he should be treated as a retail customer rather than as an institutional investor.
Lawyers for Robert Tchenguiz argued the point in the High Court this week as the tycoon faces a claim for £6.5m plus interest owed to the financial trading operator.
The interest as of January amounted to a further £1.35m.
The lawyers told the court that Tchenguiz could not be held liable for the losses, on the basis that he was a retail client of IG and so enjoyed “critical” protections afforded to everyday investors.
They claimed he had been wrongly classified as an elective professional client because of a “wholly deficient” account opening process.
If he had been classed as an everyday investor, stops would have been employed to avoid Tchenguiz running up the losses that he did, his lawyers argued.
Tchenguiz is a well-known figure in financial circles, making deals in the pubs and supermarkets sectors. Alongside his brother Vincent Tchenguiz, he became known as one of the UK’s most aggressive activist investors.
The campaign against FirstGroup began in 2019 when he opened up a number of accounts with IG.
However, these positions went south the next year, leaving Tchenguiz in a hole with IG where he breached his liquidation level.
Chancer: IG responded in a letter to the court that Tchenguiz was a “very sophisticated and experienced” investor who well understood the terms and conditions of the IG trades. Its lawyers stated that “it is difficult to see how the warnings could have been clearer” about the loss of retail customer protections due to his institutional investor status.
Tchenguiz lost a similar case brought against rival trading house CMC Markets in 2022.
The judge in that case found Tchenguiz had been “lawfully categorized” as a professional client.
Calendar
Jun 6: Gaming in Holland, Amsterdam
Jun 18-20: Canadian Gaming Summit
Jul 17-20: National Council of Legislators from Gaming States, Pittsburgh
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