Former illegal bookmaker Matt Bowyer said he does not believe baseball player Shohei Ohtani placed bets with him. Bowyer, released from prison this spring, posted the comment on Instagram after ESPN published new recordings of an interview with Ohtani's former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. Mizuhara was sentenced in February 2025 for stealing funds from Ohtani and laundering $40.2m in gambling debts.
The scandal broke on 20 March 2024 in Seoul, when Mizuhara told ESPN that Ohtani had wired millions to Bowyer's accounts to cover the interpreter's debts. Hours later Mizuhara retracted the claim, and Ohtani's representatives called him the victim of a large-scale theft. In the original interview Mizuhara claimed Ohtani knew about the payments and personally participated in $500,000 wire transfers — the limit per transaction. Federal investigators later found that Mizuhara had impersonated Ohtani's voice in calls to the bank and redirected account notifications to his own phone.
Mizuhara placed $325m in wagers, won $142.3m and lost $182.9m. Bowyer received around $17m; the rest remained debt. Mizuhara's betting limits reached $100,000 per wager, against an annual Dodgers salary of at least $300,000. Federal investigators reviewed 9,700 pages of messages between Ohtani and Mizuhara and cleared the baseball player as a victim of fraud. Mizuhara is due for release in January 2029 and may be deported to Japan.
Bowyer served 12 months and one day for illegal bookmaking, tax fraud and money laundering. After his release the Nevada Gaming Commission placed him in the state's exclusion list, barring him from any licensed casino. Four Las Vegas operators — Resorts World, Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts and The Venetian — will pay a combined $34m in AML fines related to Bowyer. The Venetian settlement of $7.2m awaits final commission approval next month.
