California Lets Disgraced Bookmaker Out Of Prison Early

Matt Bowyer is out of a California federal prison six months early. Maybe you know his name, maybe you don’t. But at the very least, you know about some of what he did.

He is the bookmaker who was tied to Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, probably the biggest sports betting scandal to hit the news in the last few years. The interpreter was gambling illegally with Bowyer’s sports betting ring based out of California, where no legal sports betting exists.

The interpreter was caught as federal investigators were looking into Bowyer, not just for this incident, but many more involving his betting shop. Bowyer was not only circumventing California sports betting laws, but other states and countries too. Keep reading, and we’ll update you on how Bowyer became a free man — but he’s not out of the woods just yet either.

Bowyer Released From California Prison

It was only October for last year that Bowyer got sent to a minimum-security prison camp at FCI Lompoc, just outside of Santa Barbara. He was there to serve a 12-month prison sentence over his illicit sports betting enterprise.

But less than six months later, Bowyer is a free man. Well, sort of. He’s not in federal prison, but he’s still locked up at home. Bowyer is now inside a halfway home in San Pedro, California. In an Instagram post, he said, “all I can tell you is I’m very humble and grateful from my experience in a federal prison.”

Ironically, Ippei Mizuhara — Ohtani’s interpreter — got hit with a harder sentence, that’s he’s still serving. Mizuhara got 57 months, but then again, his charges were over stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani. So it’s not an apples to apples comparison.

But… some would argue Bowyer is somewhat responsible for that too. You see, Bowyer was found to have extended massive credit lines to Mizuhara in the millions of dollars range. Money that Mizuhara simply didn’t have on an MLB translator salary. This caused a debt spiral for Mizuhara, which he says is why he began embezzling money from Ohtani.

Bowyer’s Betting Habits Will Be Under A Microscope

Once Bowyer is out of the halfway house, there will be strict rules against him for betting. Under the plea agreement he signed back in federal court, he is not allowed to bet for three years.

In Las Vegas, Bowyer is banned for life. Get this, Bowyer was put on the famed “black back” by Las Vegas regulators and casinos. This is the ultimate black list that prevents anyone on the list from even entering a casino in the state of Nevada. Bowyer is believed to be the 38th person ever to be blacklisted. He joins elite company with the likes of mobsters (Frank Rosenthal, who inspired the Casino movie) and scammers (Richard Marcus).

What got Bowyer on this list wasn’t just that he was operating an illegal betting ring. No, it’s the fact he dragged big-name, fully-legal Las Vegas betting shops with him too. Having a relationship with Bowyer led to three Las Vegas giants being fined by the Nevada Gaming Commission — Resorts World ($10.5 million; the second-largest in state history), MGM Resorts ($8.5 million), and Caesars Entertainment ($7.8 million). The three were helping Bowyer launder money he made from the illegal betting, “washing” essentially at their properties.

See? Bowyer wasn’t your average bookie running a popular offshore sportsbook. No, this guy had connections to casino executives and athletes, which helped him lead a global betting enterprise. You don’t make millions of dollars in illegal betting by yourself, that’s for sure. Bowyer had a lot of help pulling off this scheme, hence the Las Vegas ban for life.

Was It All Just An Addiction?

Before Bowyer went to federal prison, he embarked on a media tour to promote his memoir “Recalibrate.” Podcasts, ESPN, he was sharing his story everywhere. In interviews, Bowyer said he had a gambling addiction. Maybe it was a PR-spin excuse to garner sympathy, but for this exercise, let’s take the man at his word and say he’s truly addicted.

We mean, there’s certainly some credibility to it. People forget, as the bookie, Bowyer was taking on all the risk from his clientele of bettors. If the bets don’t turn out favorably, it could easily be Bowyer racking up millions of dollars in debts — not Ohtani’s interpreter, who apparently couldn’t pick bets to save his life.

Bowyer said he wasn’t just accepting millions dollars’ worth of bets, he was making them too independently. A story he repeated on the media tour was putting $4 million on the Kansas City Chiefs beating the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.

Stories like this only lead to more conversation around sports betting addiction and now, policy. Earlier this month, a bipartisan bill hit Capitol Hill called the POINTS Act. It’s a sweeping bill on betting, but one of its components is redirecting a part of the federal tax on sports wagers to problem gambling services.

Bowyer, if he really wants to remake his legacy, would be smart to advocate for the bill once he’s out of his halfway home. No idea if he will, but it’d go a long way in preventing another situation like this from transpiring.