{"id":102330,"date":"2025-11-22T06:57:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T06:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/22\/who-is-mathew-bowyer-the-bookie-who-nearly-took-the-vegas-strip-down-with-him\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T06:57:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T06:57:32","slug":"who-is-mathew-bowyer-the-bookie-who-nearly-took-the-vegas-strip-down-with-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/22\/who-is-mathew-bowyer-the-bookie-who-nearly-took-the-vegas-strip-down-with-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Mathew Bowyer, the Bookie Who Nearly Took the Vegas Strip Down with Him?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\n Last updated on: November 21, 2025, 08:31h.\n <\/p>\n
He also increased his pocket money by betting on sports with his wealthy friends \u2014 for whom he also acted as their bookie.<\/p>\n
\n
But a crossroads arrived when he found himself, at 19, facing fatherhood with his high-school sweetheart. Neither of his side hustles, nor his full-time job busing tables for a Mexican restaurant, would cut it anymore.<\/p>\n
One of the restaurant\u2019s regulars, a man who owned a commodities firm, took a liking to Bowyer and offered him a job. The $300,000 he earned as a broker before the age of 25 might have convinced someone else that they had found their life\u2019s calling.<\/p>\n
But Bowyer saw the job merely as a stepping stone to expanding his sports betting business. Indeed his wealthy new co-workers were easily converted to new clients.<\/p>\n
Strip Tease<\/h2>\nBowyer had become the owner of one of the largest illegal sports betting networks in the US by 2018, but he was hiding in plain sight. (Image: Mathew Bowyer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Bowyer\u2019s 21st birthday trip to New York-New York Casino yielded a $28,000 blackjack win. Though he lost more than he won in subsequent visits, he saw the Strip not just as entertainment but as a recruiting ground.<\/p>\n
VIP hosts, comped suites, and airfare gave him access to affluent gamblers. By 30, he quit brokerage work, having converted friends and colleagues into \u201cagents\u201d who earned commissions for bringing in bettors.<\/p>\n
By 2018, Bowyer\u2019s side business had grown into one of the largest illegal sports betting networks in the US, handling wagers from 700 gamblers nationwide.<\/p>\n
A Fateful Meeting<\/h2>\nShohei Ohtani speaks with his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, prior to being introduced by the LA Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on December 14, 2023. (Image: Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
On September 8, 2021, Bowyer \u2014 by then a remarried 46-year-old father of five \u2014 attended a high-stakes poker game in San Diego hosted by LA Angels players and staff. There, he met the man who would cause his downfall.<\/p>\n
Ippei Mizuhara was the interpreter and close friend of Shohei Ohtani, the baseball phenom who was then in his third season with the Angels. What stood out to Bowyer about him were the calls he made between poker hands. He was obsessively placed bets on soccer games.<\/p>\n
So Bowyer approached, pouring on the charm and offering him free credit through his website. Over the next 2\u00bd years, Mizuhara placed at least 19,000 bets on AnyActionSports.com, totaling $325-$326 million ($142 million in wins, $183 million in losses).<\/p>\n
New Kid on the Boulevard<\/h2>\n
In February 2022, Bowyer visited Resorts World Las Vegas for the first time. The first new resort on the Las Vegas Strip in a decade, it had opened a year before on the very site where mob associate Frank \u201cLefty\u201d Rosenthal once skimmed the sportsbook profits from the Stardust.<\/p>\n
As the new kid on the block, Resorts World lacked the contact lists of high-rollers built and maintained for decades by its corporate neighbors. So, according to a complaint that would eventually be filed by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the property wooed bookies into its casino, where their dirty earnings were converted into clean profits via chips for table games.<\/p>\n
Over two years, Bowyer made 80 visits, losing millions while cultivating clients.<\/p>\n
On March 20, 2024, ESPN <\/em>and the LA Times<\/em> broke the news that a bank account owned by Ohtani \u2014 who had just signed the largest contract in the history of professional sports ($700 million) with the LA Dodgers \u2014 had wired millions to Bowyer.<\/p>\n
At first, federal agencies \u2014 DHS, IRS, MLB investigators, and Nevada regulators \u2014 suspected a corruption scandal rivaling the 1919 Black Sox. But once Mizuhara\u2019s theft was confirmed, the focus shifted to a smaller corruption scandal.<\/p>\n
An amendment to the US Bank Secrecy Act in 1985 required Nevada casinos to vet the source of funds for any wager over $10,000, and to file suspicious activity reports for any wager over $5,000 that a casino \u201cknows, suspects, or has reason to suspect\u201d originated from illegal gains.<\/p>\n
Regulators later alleged that Resorts World, Caesars and MGM knowingly allowed Bowyer to lose millions at their tables from 2017 to 2024 despite unverifiable funds. They said his presence exposed systematic negligence across the Strip, where casinos prioritized revenue over compliance.<\/p>\n
Resorts World ultimately agreed to pay $10.5 million, MGM Resorts $8.5 million and Caesars Entertainment $7.8 million to settle the charges against them without admitting guilt.<\/p>\n
Bowyer pleaded guilty in 2024 to illegal gambling, money laundering and filing a false tax return. He was sentenced to 12 months and one day \u2014 which he began serving on October 10, 2025 at the Federal Correctional Institution in in Lompoc, Calif. \u2013 plus $1.6 million restitution.<\/p>\n
The case is now viewed as a turning point in Nevada gaming history \u2014 proof that corporate Las Vegas has behaved a lot more like the mobbed-up Stardust than it liked to present itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bowyer-bowyer-858x860.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1855924443-1-858x763.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/casino-dot-org-headlines-430x668.jpg\")
On March 20, 2024, ESPN <\/em>and the LA Times<\/em> broke the news that a bank account owned by Ohtani \u2014 who had just signed the largest contract in the history of professional sports ($700 million) with the LA Dodgers \u2014 had wired millions to Bowyer.<\/p>\n