Convicted Bookmaker Recommended For Nevada 'Black Book'
The Nevada Gaming Control Board on Wednesday nominated imprisoned illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer to be listed in the state's Black Book, banning him from entering any licensed casino statewide.
The recommendation came on a 3-0 vote at the three-member board's regularly scheduled Jan. 14 meeting in Las Vegas. Those voting in favor of excluding Bowyer from Nevada casinos were Chairman Mike Dreitzer and members George Assad and Chandeni Sendall.
The recommendation awaits a final vote by the Nevada Gaming Commission. The commission's next scheduled meeting is Jan. 29 in Las Vegas. As the Las Vegas Review-Journal indicated in a previous story, it is unclear whether the commission will sign off at present on Bowyer being added to the Black Book. Regulations allow him to defend himself, but he is in prison in California.
Who Is Mathew Bowyer?
Bowyer, 50, is a convicted former illegal bookmaker linked to Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani's Japanese language interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
On Oct. 10, 2025, Bowyer began serving a sentence of 12 months and one day at a federal prison in Lompoc, California, north of Los Angeles. A year earlier, Bowyer pleaded guilty to operating an illegal gambling business, money laundering and filing a false tax return, according to the Associated Press. A U.S. district judge handed down the sentence in August.
Bowyer’s arrest and conviction were part of a federal investigation into illegal sports gambling, also leading to Mizuhara's imprisonment. Mizuhara is serving a sentence of nearly five years “for bank and tax fraud after stealing nearly $17 million from from Ohtani," according to the Associated Press. Bowyer was Mizuhara's bookmaker.
What Is The Black Book?
The Nevada List of Excluded Persons, widely known as the Black Book, was first launched in 1960. Currently, it has 37 names, including one woman, Sandra Kay Vaccaro. Also known by the aliases Sandra Day Fumagalli and Sandra Kay Wondra, she was married to a suspected former Mob associate, who also had been in the Black Book but has since died, according to published accounts. She is thought to be in her 80s and still living in Southern Nevada.
Others who have since died and have been removed from the Black Book include Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal and Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro. Rosenthal and Spilotro, both originally from Chicago, were active in the Las Vegas underworld decades ago. Their story was fictionalized in the 1995 movie “Casino,” starring Robert De Niro as a character based on Rosenthal and Joe Pesci as a Spilotro-inspired character.
The most recent person added to the Black Book was Neal Ahmad Hearne in 2024, He was accused of stealing casino chips from a blackjack table, according to the Review-Journal.
Highlights From Bowyer's Gambling.com Interview
Before beginning his prison sentence last October, Bowyer conducted a video interview with Gambling.com on “The Edge.” During the interview, Bowyer discusses:
- How he met Ohtani’s interpreter at a hotel poker game involving Major League Baseball players, coaches and others, including Mizuhara. Ohtani was not there. “I knew who (Mizuhara) was obviously, and he was putting a sports bet on his telephone. … A friend of mine proceeded to have a conversation with him and pointed out that that's what I did for a living. And so that's when the relationship started, basically.”
- Whether Ohtani know about Mizuhara's betting activity. “I do feel that he did nothing wrong. I just want to be clear on that.”
- The downside to illegal sports betting. ”It’s going to cause friction when people can't pay because it's credit based, and that friction could lead to violence.”
More On Illegal Sports Betting
For more on illegal sports betting, click here for an interview on Gambling.com's "The Edge" with Owen Hanson, subject of the Amazon Prime Video docuseries "Cocaine Quarterback."
