One day in 2019, sheriff’s deputies in Florida watched a man mail two packages at a FedEx store. The officers were zeroing in on a crew of suspected bookies, including hardened veterans of the underground gambling world with connections to the Colombo crime family’s “South Florida Crew.”

A Suspicious Shipment

The authorities intercepted the parcels, which each contained a Yahtzee board game box. One box contained $100,000 in rubber-band bundled cash, bound for an address in Texas. The other, which contained $108,000 in cash, was headed to the sprawling California home of a jiu-jitsu studio operator and high-limit baccarat player banned from several casinos on the Vegas Strip. His name was Mathew Bowyer.

From Obscurity to Scandal

The Florida case would not result in charges. But it shed light on the secret profession of an obscure figure now at the center of one of the biggest sports-betting scandals in decades.

The Ohtani Connection

On Wednesday, Bowyer, 48, was thrust into the global spotlight amid a bizarre and explosive news story enveloping one of the best known, highest paid - and until this week, most scandal-free - figures in sports, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani.

Allegations and Investigations

ESPN and The Los Angeles Times, in dueling articles, reported that the Dodgers fired Ohtani’s interpreter and friend, Ippei Mizuhara, amid revelations that Ohtani, or an account in his name, wired Bowyer millions of dollars - ostensibly to pay off Mizuhara’s gambling debts.

Unraveling the Story

The fallout from the scandal, which unfolded while Ohtani’s Dodgers were in Seoul for a season-opening series meant to highlight baseball’s global reach, has put the sport at an uncomfortable crossroads. On Friday, MLB announced it had launched a formal investigation.

The Legal Troubles of Bowyer

Bowyer’s rise as a bookie coincided with the spread of legal betting, led by companies like DraftKings and FanDuel, following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2018. But the widespread adoption of legal sports betting hasn’t made a dent in the illegal industry, much of it based offshore, according to gaming lobbyists, who estimate the illegal handle to be $64 billion a year.

The Continuing Saga

The criminal investigation into Bowyer is a byproduct of a metastasizing federal probe into illegal betting. Former Dodgers star Yasiel Puig is awaiting trial for allegedly lying to federal agents about being a client of an illegal betting ring, whose agents included a youth baseball coach who ran a Dodgers Training Academy in Hawaii.

Legal Troubles Continue

According to Bowyer’s attorney, prosecutors didn’t show interest in pursuing Ohtani’s role. Bass said that she called federal prosecutors in January after learning of Ohtani’s involvement from an ESPN reporter. “They were not the least bit interested,” Bass said.

Bowyer's Past

Mizuhara was a “compulsive gambler,” Bass said; ESPN reported that Mizuhara said he met Bowyer playing poker in Southern California in 2021. Bowyer’s own history with gambling - and significant losses - dated to at least a decade earlier.

From Exterminator to Trader

The divorced father of four was a failed exterminator. After his company, Tapout Exterminators, went under, he became a commodities trader, earning roughly $5,400 a month, according to the bankruptcy records. But Bowyer had more than $2 million in liabilities, he claimed, including more than $500,000 in “personal loans” to three individuals.

Investigations and Revelations

As the case unfolded, Bowyer filed an affidavit claiming his investment was solely a down payment on the Bahamas land and that he had no “investment, financial or any other relationship with the companies” behind the alleged Belize scam. But a federal judge ruled that Bowyer’s affidavit was of “doubtful reliability.”

Downfall of a Highflyer

It’s unclear when Bowyer became a bookmaker. In 2019, he founded a company called Picks Enterprises, LLC, out of a lawyer’s office in Las Vegas, corporate records show. He was by then living in a sprawling, Mediterranean-style home in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. He opened a nearby Brazilian jujitsu studio, called RYSK.

From Obscurity to Infamy

Bowyer was in the midst of a years-long battle with Vegas casinos, the bankruptcy records and interviews show. He listed among his assets potential legal actions against two resorts, the Cosmopolitan and Aria, that had cleaned him out. Instead, Aria sued him, seeking $250,000 for an allegedly bounced check, records show. The suit was later dismissed.

A Life Unraveled

Bowyer next played a cameo role in litigation over what the Federal Trade Commission has called “the largest overseas real estate investment scam the [agency] has ever targeted.”

Conclusion

The fallout from the scandal has put the sport at an uncomfortable crossroads. Players and team employees are prohibited from betting on baseball and from placing any bets with illegal bookmakers.