Major League Baseball was made aware of the federal charges Thursday and is looking into the matter, a league official said.

The NFL this month suspended Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley for at least one year after uncovering evidence that he had bet on NFL games. Betting online and or over the phone has become easier and, as one technology operator told The Times last month, “There’s a million pitches over the course of a season. Teams and leagues say betting can keep fans involved with games. Fans already can place bets at gambling operations inside stadiums and arenas from Phoenix to Chicago and Washington, D.C. The four major North American leagues could generate $4.23 billion per year from legalized sports betting, according to the American Gaming Assn. A few weeks later, Nix agreed in a text exchange to reactivate the account of a sports broadcaster who told him he was refinancing his home mortgage so he could repay his gambling debts. Both were unnamed in the court records.Īnother client placed a $5-million bet on the 2019 Super Bowl in Atlanta, where the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams. Nix acknowledged receiving $245,000 from a professional football player and $4,000 from a Major League Baseball coach, in both cases to cover gambling losses in 2016. Betting on the outcome of sporting events is legal in some states, but not California. Password-protected accounts were set up for clients to place bets on a website run by Sand Island Sports, a company based in Costa Rica. It eventually expanded into a major enterprise that employed three former Major League Baseball players as agents who recruited bettors. The ring was led by Wayne Nix, 45, a former pitcher in the Oakland Athletics minor league system who lives in Newport Beach.Īround 2001, Nix started using his professional sports contacts to build a gambling business, developing a client list that included unnamed professional athletes, the former ballplayer admitted in court papers. Five men have agreed to plead guilty to federal crimes for their roles in an illegal Southern California sports betting operation that took wagers from professional athletes, authorities said Thursday.

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