Bookies at the baccarat table: A new scandal grips Las Vegas

Saturday, May 11, 2024 5:19 PM
Photo:  Shutterstock
  • Gus Garcia-Roberts, The Washington Post

Of all the perks the casinos near Lake Tahoe can offer high-rolling customers, few rival an invitation to play in the American Century Championship, the annual celebrity golf tournament. And perhaps the most enticing celebrity to be paired with is retired NBA legend Charles Barkley, the tournament’s hard-swinging and harder-gambling fan favorite, who every year attempts to place six-figure long-odds bets on his performance.

Naturally, in 2019, that privilege went to Mathew Bowyer, an Orange County, Calif., card player who regularly risked millions at tables throughout Nevada and elsewhere — and who is now at the center of a betting scandal surrounding the former interpreter for MLB megastar Shohei Ohtani.