Mathew Bowyer Added To Nevada Black Book
The five-member Nevada Gaming Commission voted unanimously Thursday, April 23, to add Mathew Bowyer to the Nevada Black Book, banning him from entering casinos statewide. Bowyer becomes the 39th person in the current List of Excluded Persons, commonly known as the Black Book.
Bowyer, a Southern California resident, is the former illegal bookmaker for the ex-interpreter of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, Ippei Mizuhara. Bowyer did not fight the inclusion or attend the Gaming Commission hearing held in Las Vegas. The hearing included a remote video connection to Carson City.
In another action, the Gaming Commission voted 5-0 to deny Francis Citro's request for a hearing to be removed from the Black Book.
Bowyer Imprisoned On Federal Charges
On Thursday, Bowyer told Gambling.com he takes "full accountability" for the decisions he made and accepts the Gaming Commission's actions.
"The consequences are mine to own, and I've used the experinece to grow, reflect and recalibrate my life," he said. "While I believe there are broader issues within the system that will continue to be addressed over time, my focus is on moving forward the right way. I'm committed to building a future rooted in integrity, family and purpose."
At the hearing in Las Vegas, Nona Lawrence, a Nevada deputy attorney general, said Bowyer had at least 700 sports-betting clients wagering tens of millions of dollars from 2014 to 2023. Mizuhara wagered $324 million with Bowyer and lost $41 million, she said. Sports betting is illegal in California, Lawrence noted.
For his part, Mizuhara, a Japanese-language interpreter, is serving a sentence of nearly five years “for bank and tax fraud after stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani," according to the Associated Press.
Officials from Major League Baseball later cleared Ohtani of wrongdoing in the matter, declaring him to be a victim of fraud. In a previous video interview on Gambling.com's "The Edge," Bowyer was asked whether Ohtani knew about Mizuhara's betting activity.
“I do feel that he did nothing wrong," Bowyer said of the baseball star. "I just want to be clear on that.
In May 2024, Bowyer pleaded guilty to federal charges of running an illegal gambling operation, filing false tax returns, and money laundering. He was sentenced on Aug. 29, 2025, to one year and one day in federal prison and ordered to pay a $1.6 million restitution to the IRS, Lawrence told the Commission. She said he used proceeds from illegal sports bookmaking to gamble and pay off markers at Las Vegas casinos, in addition to paying casino employees to refer clients to him.
On Oct. 10, 2025, Bowyer began serving his sentence at a federal facility in Lompoc, California, about three hours northwest of Los Angeles. On March 9, 2026, he was released to a halfway house. Since April 15, he has been assigned to home confinement, Lawrence said.
Earlier this year, the Nevada Gaming Control Board nominated Bowyer for inclusion in the Black Book. That nomination needed to be approved by the Commission.
Citro Remains In Black Book
Known as "Little Frankie," Citro, 80, was added to the Black Book on Nov. 21, 1991, after federal felony convictions related to the use of counterfeit credit cards and racketeering. At the Commission hearing on Thursday, his attorney argued that Citro no longer poses a threat and that the mobsters he has been accused of associating with in the past, such as Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, are no longer alive.
Commissioner Abbi Silver said Citro, a performer, can still appear in more than 2,000 gaming-restricted Nevada taverns and other locations with devices such as poker machines--and can even gamble in those places. She said the Black Book applies only to casinos operating under a nonrestricted license, meaning they offer table games, racebooks, and sportsbooks.
Citro would have been the first living person removed from the Black Book. To date, the only people removed from the Black Book have been those who have died.
The 5-0 Commission vote on Thursday ends Citro's effort to be removed from the Black Book.
