OPINION: When it comes to illegal gamblers in casinos, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’

Wednesday, May 15, 2024 8:14 PM
  • John L. Smith, The Nevada Independent

In the end, plain-spoken Larry Tillery made no bones about it.

Whatever the relative profits of Daylight Motors, the used-car lot he owned in Beaumont, Texas, it was nothing compared to the millions his illegal bookmaking operation had generated during the previous three decades. By June 2019 when he stipulated to his crimes in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, he was more than ready to plead guilty to illegal gambling and tax violation charges.

At the height of his action, Tillery’s clients numbered in the hundreds in a network that stretched throughout Texas and into Louisiana. From 2011 to 2016, his group accepted at least $52 million in sports bet wagers.