Mathew Bowyer was addicted to the high stakes of gambling and the money that came with it even before he was old enough to play, the former bookmaker told NBC4 from his San Juan Capistrano home Tuesday.

“I was involved in sports gambling since I was twelve years old,” said Bowyer, who was scheduled to be sentenced at the Ronald Reagan federal courthouse in Santa Ana Friday.

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“I was the CEO of a big corporation,” said Bowyer. “It was just illegal.”

Bowyer is the bookmaker at the center of a gambling scandal heard around the sports world involving Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of Dodger great Shohei Ohtani.

Bowyer pleaded guilty in August 2024 to filing a false tax return, money laundering and running an ill

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