Shortly after Shohei Ohtani’s name surfaced in an illegal bookmaking investigation, the baseball player found himself in the middle of a sports gambling scandal.
Matthew Bowyer, a Southern California Bookmaker, is under investigation regarding the running of an illegal bookmaking operation in which Ohtani was suspected to be involved. ESPN writer Trisha Thompson reported that suspiciously large wire transfers were made from Ohtani’s account to an account of one of Bowyer’s associates. The transfer sparked suspicion that immediately led to accusations of the baseball player’s involvement in the illegal gambling.
Sports gambling is illegal for most professional athletes and is widely frowned upon by professionals in the industry. A player of Ohtani’s stature being found guilty of participating in sports betting would be detrimental to his career.
Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, stated that Ohtani does not bet and actually had been giving money to help a friend pay off gambling debts. Ohtani, seemingly corroborating the story, soon said in a press conference, “I never bet on baseball or any other sports.”
Originally, Mizuhara stated that he watched Ohtani do the wire transfer and even assisted him in doing so. Ohtani’s lawyers then came out with their own statement.
“In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” Ohtani’s lawyers said at the Berk Bretter law firm.
After the release of Ohtani’s lawyer’s statement, Mizuhara seemingly changed his narrative, claiming that Ohtani did not in fact know about the gambling debt or wire transfers. This change in story and incriminating information prompted the Dodgers to fire Mizuhara, leaving him with what sources report as at least $4.5 million of debt.
Even after this information came out, people were still skeptical of Ohtani’s intentions, wondering if there were underlying motives to cover up the star player from further legal action. Bowyer’s lawyers came out with their own statement defending Ohtani.
“Mr. Bowyer never had any contact with Shohei Ohtani, in person, on the phone, in any way,” Bowyer’s lawyer said to the Associated Press. “The only person he had contact with was Ippei.”
Ohtani and his team continue to assure fans that Ohtani was completely unaware of the exchange of funds until the accusations were publicized.
As it turns out, Mizuhara was the one struggling with a gambling addiction for quite some time. As Mizuhara was Ohtani’s long time friend and interpreter, this caught Ohtani by surprise.
“The first time I knew about this gambling, Ippei’s gambling, was after the first game (in Korea) when we had the team meeting in the clubhouse,” Ohtani said in a press conference.
Whether Ohtani was aware of the problematic gambling or not, this scandal sheds an interesting light on professional athletes’ ethics. It also exposes some of the difficulties foreign players face when navigating a very different culture when they come to play in America.
