LOS ANGELES, California — An Orange County man has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges for running an illegal gambling business that took in unlawful sports bets, including from current and former professional athletes.
Mathew R. Bowyer, 49, of San Juan Capistrano, has agreed to plead guilty to a three-count information charging him with operating an unlawful gambling business, money laundering, and subscribing to a false tax return. Bowyer is expected to enter his plea on August 9, according to a press release.
Bowyer operated an unlicensed and illegal bookmaking business focused on sports betting, violating California law. His gambling operation, which ran for at least five years until October 2023, had more than 700 bettors at times. He conducted his business from various locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties, as well as in Las Vegas.
Bowyer employed agents and sub-agents, including casino hosts, who were paid a portion of the losses incurred by bettors. His operation utilized several Costa Rica-based websites and a call center for placing and tracking bets. Bowyer sometimes conducted his illegal activities while gambling at a casino, identified in court documents as “Casino A,” and occasionally paid his agents in Casino A chips.
One of Bowyer’s clients was Ippei Mizuhara, the former Japanese-language interpreter and de facto manager of MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani. Mizuhara pleaded guilty on June 4 to bank fraud and subscribing to a false tax return. He admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts and failing to pay tax on his gambling income. Law enforcement considers Ohtani a victim. Mizuhara’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 25.
From September 2021 to January 2024, Mizuhara placed at least 19,000 bets with Bowyer’s illegal gambling business, resulting in total winning bets of at least $142,256,769 and total losing bets of at least $182,935,206, leaving Mizuhara owing approximately $40,678,436. During this period, Bowyer regularly increased Mizuhara’s betting limits.
Between February 2022 and January 2024, Bowyer directed Mizuhara to make payments of at least $16.25 million to Bowyer-controlled bank accounts, all proceeds from the illegal gambling business. Bowyer transferred or directed the transfer of at least $9.3 million to a casino as payment for markers for himself and his associates.
Other customers of Bowyer’s gambling business included a professional baseball player for a Southern California-based baseball club and a former minor-league baseball player, identified in court documents as “Individual B” and “Individual C,” respectively.
Bowyer admitted in his plea agreement to knowingly and willfully falsely reporting his taxable income to the IRS on his 2022 tax return. He reported $607,897 in total income, while his unreported income for that year was $4,030,938, which included $3.8 million in wire transfers into one of his bank accounts from his illegal gambling business.
