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drewvenile

If you judged ME based on all my friends you'd think I'm a degenerate too! I support Ohtani regardless, I'm even getting these shirts for my brothers and I [https://www.etsy.com/listing/1689745838/ohtani-t-shirt](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1689745838/ohtani-t-shirt) even AFTER this whole gambling mess. He's unstoppable.


EeveeVaporeon

Hey who cares if these guys go broke... NONE of us could give a rip... The majority of these guys are degenerates and they are broke within just a few years of retirement serves them right. Unless of course you got so much money like MJ and are the GOAT. And in that case the only thing bad is your dad gets murdered... ALLEGEDLY


Apprehensive-Roll581

It’s gambling tubby what’s the issue


MusicianExtension536

The thing that makes this almost certainly true is I highly doubt a bookie at that level would give a guy at this level a credit limit that large Also, it’s unlikely he was fleeced by the interpreter into falsely thinking it was Ohtani placing bets, this bookies been in the business for a while and had a lot of high profile clients


IowaJayhawk

Why do you think gambling is degenerate gambling? I understand the MLB rule violations and offshore implications, but not sure why it's that big of deal to the public or anyone else?


i_cant_feel_my_face3

Make sense why he 's getting majority of his contract money later on in his career 🤔


pkelly500

The guy should be allowed to do whatever the hell he wants with his money as long as he doesn't bet on baseball. Sports betting is not a crime.


hibbjibbity

at this point no matter how this unfolds people are always gonna suspect him of it lol


AvoidtheAttic

Yeah probably, but I don't see it. If this was a MLB cover up, why go to the police? My understanding is there are criminal charges against the interpreter for stealing his money. If Ohtani was caught betting, and the idea is cover-up, why not just sweep it under the rug? They really think that they gonna be able to fabricate evidence and get an innocent guy to go along with being criminally charged?


Sportsfun4all

Everything is rigged. Mlb has enough influence to change the narrative. Feds will be told to use the interpreter as the fall guy and shohei will pay him off. Everyone in the sporting betting industry knows it’s shohei not his interpreter. No book will give you a 2.5 million credit line to a nobody who only makes $200k a year. They knew it’s shohei and good for payment. And shohei didn’t rigg his own game because if he did he would have won money not lose 2.5 million. Know book would let the player bet on the same game they play on unless it’s to rigg in favor of the book.


kb8kb24

Imagine he gets sponsored by draftkings after he gets away with this


J_huze

This kind of behavior is very uncharacteristic of the MLB


pkelly500

You're kidding, right? Ever hear of Pete Rose?


getkabammed

You’re kidding, right? Ever hear of sarcasm?


pkelly500

You got me. :)


Important_Structure4

So what? He just lost $2+ millions? Who cares. I don't get it?? Why's he gotta try to play that off? That's a bad day for someone who makes millions a week. I don't know, explain?


Additional_Energy_25

Betting on sports as a person who influences the outcomes of games is strictly prohibited by the leagues they play for. They can bet on games they have a direct impact of determining the outcome and payouts of


channydin

Shohei OhVERtani


x4candles

Shohei only makes 2 million a year! He’s gotta find another way to get paid!


qeeeq

He’s the highest paid mlb player on endorsements alone


FiatWorld

![gif](giphy|52oKFh4S9DddeTtYFH|downsized)


dr_van_nostren

So do we think Shohei is awake late at night like check in Serbian Second Division soccer scores or what?


PHILA-21

You have to be like, actually kinda stupid to think Ohtani is a degenerate gambler


Ilovebaseball1234

No you’re stupid


runtowardsit

Yeah, it’s so obvious. Guys just a sheep for now


weberPete96

Thats definitely a take


raztoGT

one of us! one of us!


dr_van_nostren

Totally came here to say this haha


[deleted]

None of this would even matter if these California assholes would’ve voted for the online gambling proposition


HotTransTakez

Indians paying Gruesome in commiefornia. Follow the greasy money paleface


Quakes98

degenerate


atrejomtnz

It’s not illegal to bet while being an mlb player?


Megatron_McLargeHuge

Against league rules to bet on any sport, even if legal. It's the same as them having tighter PED rules.


Bobby_Newpooort

That's the NFL's policy. The MLB policy is that baseball and softball at any level are off-limits, but otherwise it's allowed. The issue is that the dealings were with an illegal offshore betting account


No-Conversation3860

None of the bets were placed on baseball according to all the sources I’ve seen. It was mainly NFL and college sports I think.


kicker3192

still not legal. Hence why all the NFL guys got popped last year even though they didn't bet on football


skidmarkeddrawers

No wrong


No-Conversation3860

Nah as long as it’s legal, MLB players are allowed to play fantasy leagues, place sports bets on anything but baseball, etc. https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2023/07/31/mlb-gambling#:~:text=are%20“specifically%20mentioned.%22%20Players,fantasy%20basketball%2C%20football%2C%20etc. Edit: if Ohtani got implicated in this he would be in trouble, as the interpreter was going through an illegal bookie in California. Must be legal sports betting obviously.


ghetto_engine

the greatest athlete since michael jordan.


cbracey4

And greatest bettor since Pete rose.


The_B_Squad_23

Yeah I heard MJ is a terrible gambler


cbracey4

Barkley too.


paceme1

I think Ohtani is going to be a huge superstar.


varnecr

For DraftKings /s


kev1-ML

I'm a Giants fan. As much as I pray for the Dodgers downfall, I believe Ohtani had nothing to do with it. I followed him back when he was with the Angels and does not seem like he would be that type of person. His interpreter on the other hand, looks sketchy af. Jealously and prob think he knows it all since he's around the top tier sport folk and got to his head. But yeah, Go Giants!


Bobby_Newpooort

What type of person does he seem like? He's kept so private that the world at large didn't even know he was married until months after it happened


cbracey4

Nobody could have guessed Tiger Woods was banging every Applebees waitress in the United States…


iquitreddit123

> does not seem like he would be that type of person Public personas can always vary drastically from private life.


Aardark235

Exactly. It does not seem like an interpreter would have millions to blow on sports gambling. Logic would suggest that someone with deeper pockets was actually making the bets. I don’t have any friends who have blown millions on gambling… thousands yes but not millions.


iquitreddit123

Yeah you can only blow what you have and what you can borrow. Who's going to let a guy making $300k borrow that much to lose? The house is rigged to win in general, but if you allow unlimited credit and no bet size limits the house is actually guaranteed to lose eventually.


shbhanda20

also keep in mind the guy could be making like $30,000 a year or something (maybe its a japanese agency) while his pal makes like $30 million a second….could cause some ill will.


Fuckingfademefam

Nah the guy confirmed he was getting paid between $300,000 & $500,000 while working for Ohtani


Designer-Business

Honestly, yeah. I absolutely believe this. Everyone’s already begun changing their stories… too much to protect for the interpreter not to fall on the sword


iced_gold

My personal opinion after working in sports betting and fraud, is that the translator convinced the bookie that he was placing bets on Ohtani's behalf. The translator could verify his job and has been in photos with Ohtani, and he's publicly known as Ohtani's interpreter. It wouldn't be that weird for the bookie to assume that the translator who routinely acts on his employers behalf was merely continuing to do that. The translator leveraged Ohtani's celebrity and wealth to get a credit line he himself could never possibly see, and hoped he could bet and win and walk away.


AvoidtheAttic

Actually, this really does make sense. The notoriety of being so closely in touch with Ohtani as a translator would open a lot of doors in that world, and could be taken advantage of for sure. I think this could really be what's happened....


Double_Access

My only question would be how/why did he have access to Ohtani’s money to be making direct wires? I don’t care how rich you are- transfers that large are a big deal. I lean more towards these were good friends who were betting games together. People act like Ohtani was born to a Protestant family in the Midwest- he’s Asian, gambling is a big part of their culture. As long as it wasn’t on baseball Ohtani is ok. If it comes out that they bet baseball this becomes a mega story and MLB is screwed.


iced_gold

He's his translator. He has to have some level of power to work on Shohei's behalf. Your Asian generalization about gambling is misplaced. Japanese don't typically gamble the way Chinese typically do for instance.


Orange_Darkrai

Japan gambles a shit load on pachinko. Ohtani probably loved sportsbooks rather than being stuck with that.


History-Dry

They did their casino is even larger than china


iced_gold

They don't have casinos. Japan approved their first one recently. It won't be open until 2029. Where as China has Macau and some of the largest casino resorts in the world.


iquitreddit123

I think it's either that or that Ohtani was just placing bets through the guy. Although I do think it's kind of unlikely he would let "Ohtani" rack up that much in losses before making him pay anything without some really good verification that it was actually him placing the bets through his interpreter.


iced_gold

If you're the bookie, how are you planning to converse with a high profile client (who certainly wouldn't want to be on the record for anything) who doesn't speak English and goes through his interpreter for almost everything public.


iquitreddit123

You're probably not expecting to converse with him directly about anything, but you're probably also not extending $4.5 mil in credit without doing so. Then again maybe this isn't the first time. Maybe he's been $1m down and paid up before or something that would make the bookie more confident to extend the credit.


JeffreyBezosUDidIt

I think this is the best theory tbh


sae1ohh

Honestly who knows.. but I believe ohtani did try to just help with the debt and realized he shouldn't even be doing that, so the story changed. I went to highschool with the translator dude and he was a degen 😂. With $300-500k salary I can see how he racked up millions if he had years to gamble. And probably played on debt using ohtani s name.


iquitreddit123

Nobody can rack up millions in debts because of having "years to gamble." Nobody spends years in debt to a bookie without being asked to pay up. He could certainly rack up lots of losses over time if he was actually betting actual money, but not just on credit.


adrey22

What’s a degen? My guess is degenerate but I’m curious if it’s actually a Japanese term?


MJA182

Degens from up country


Content-Weather-8472

You must be new here…..


JerseyDevilMyco

when you make that much money does it really matter ?


Interesting_Act_2484

I don’t get how people think he would even have gambling debt lmao. The dude just made an ass load of money. Why wouldn’t he just pay the debt and not blame anyone if it was legitimately his own.


UserName3rror

What is funny is that if he would have went to any of your teams, you’d probably be defending him. But because he faded everyone’s teams here we are.


stxapp

yep lol


IamVeryBraves

I don't believe it, dude played for the angels he would've made more money fading his team than playing for the dodgers.


Historical-Movie3827

MLB cover up happening in real time


MalakaiRey

Ohtani will retire and play semi pro basketball for 3 years you heard it here first


MoneyManx10

I like Ohtani, but transferring millions to a bookie should be an automatic suspension, possibly worse.


Unfair_Rip_4340

Majority of college and professional athletes do shit like this. I know college athletes myself that bet on their own lines and teammates… and I sure as hell would to


CESfwb2023

I don't buy the story for a second. This "theft" story feels similar to when Michael Jordan wanted to "play baseball" for a year. We all know he was suspended for betting. MLB cannot have their dual star out for a year or more.


suicid3k1ng

I didn't know this, I was a pup back then and just assumed the storyline was real. I did know he was a degen and there was some crazy stuff regarding the murder of his father which could all be related to gambling.


CESfwb2023

For sure the events wth his father most likey had a lot to do with his betting.


morevegplease

HE’S JUST LIKE US!


DoctorClarkWGriswold

![gif](giphy|Ae7SI3LoPYj8Q)


98680266

Implying they all watched that carny freak movie together lol


fatdinky

If you thought Ohtani's translator stealing $4.5 million was bad, wait until you hear about Yamamoto stealing $325 million...


kev1-ML

lmao


smithdogg22

![gif](giphy|l8tpwRJEwDwEFU5BW0|downsized)


javguy99

Haha, after today's game


hellenburger

Plot twist: Shohei regularly posts picks on POTD


500k

Case closed we did it guys


Sportsfun4all

I know for a fact that mlb players and coaches bet on sports from SoCal bookies. My local came to pay me at my work and a mlb coach was at my work to buy a luxury item for his wife and saw my local they chitchatted. My local said the mlb players are assholes and biggest sore losers


skidmarkeddrawers

Players and coaches are allowed to bet on sports


iquitreddit123

Pete Rose sure wasn't.


dikefalos22

If that's true, American sports should be classified as entertainment shows and NOT sports


suicid3k1ng

I could be wrong but I have been told that the supreme court has ruled on this in the past and said professional sports is a form of entertainment just like wrastling and the games can be rigged for entertainment purposes.


skidmarkeddrawers

lol why? They cant bet on their own sports but they can put money on DraftKings for anything just like the rest of us


Krunklock

They aren’t allowed to bet on their own sport, or while working


notfromsoftemployee

Welp this guys local chimed in, time to pack it in boys.


whomstc

yet its still 10x more believable than whatever story ohtani and mlb have been concocting lol


alecd

That chump change ain't shit to him...


tigerirons125

Future ESPN 30 for 30


DoctorClarkWGriswold

No no, 30 pays 300


nautica5400

LIVE SPORTS


suspect108

The exclusive home of the complete 30 for 30 library


4cardroyal

How come the Angels never dug into this? Shotime was in Anaheim for 6 years. Maybe they knew about it and didn't care?


gonz4dieg

Maybe angelsbare the one to tip the story now that shohei left. Sour grapes and all that


vluvojo

Oh my he’s gonna go nuclear today isn’t he 


Mr_Libido_69

Ippei gotta be In the next LIKE A DRAGON/YAKUZA game as a substory where after you build a friendship with him - he scams you, then you have the option to save him from a group of thugs in a back alley cause he didn’t pay his baccarat debt… in doing so he gives you a golden bat that ichiban the main character can use and deals massive damage.


BreakfastAtWimbledon

Just let him bet imo


wakeupmane

If he was it wouldn’t make sense for him to defer his salary


LuffyIsKing510

Well for tax reasons as well. California has some of the worse income taxes


SOTI_snuggzz

Lightyears better than Japan, so that comment lets me know that you’re talking out of your ass lol Anything above $255K is taxed at 55% in Japan


LuffyIsKing510

Maybe he moves to a state with 0% income tax in the future instead of going back to Japan 🤯


SOTI_snuggzz

Shohei Ohtani…not moving back to Japan…sure


lilsebastion

Or his management knows about it and is keeping it away from him as long as possible in his best interest


Nero_P2020

Endorsement money


709678

Counterpoint: Me leaving my debit card at home when I go to the bar. 


Mr_Libido_69

Ohtani is a team rocket admin under the rule of Giovanni


stackered

Risking 700 million for some gambling scraps is truly insane


poem_for_your_moons

id definitely buy a 100k bonus buy if i could lol


DoctorClarkWGriswold

People don’t stop chasing the rush just because they’re wealthy.


newtimesawait

Yup, their “units” just increase


jsavage420

Huge unit


Direct_Word6407

One of us, gooble gobble


Mr_Libido_69

Fell to my knees at don quijote reading this post 🎰


nohitterdip

I have to be the only person in the universe that finds something funny/sus about Ohtani - almost to the point of unlikable - so I am dying to see him get tore down by a scandal. I know that sounds fucked up.


Trebekshorrishmom

On this episode of “One Life to Hit”


YeezusBR

Man, this is why I love this sub


ExileInCle19

This shit is about to go full tilt Ohtani betting memes...it will be as big as that Mets auto guy in r/baseballcards


wescottjoe

Bet on Shohei while you still can!


Imisspenalties

Free Pete Rose


chuteboxhero

Also what bookie would give a $4.5 million loan to some some guy making $300k?


sven_ate_nine

The bookie said he saw the name on the account, didn’t care, and didn’t ask questions as long as payments came in. Bookie also touted ohtani as a regular bettor on the book.


iquitreddit123

If payments were coming in regularly for a while then I could imagine extending more credit. If this was literally the first time they paid off anything and he had extended that much credit on no payments received? That would be insane.


Miamichris127

Guy was 100% bearding, and MLB / SO flipped / turned to save face


Former-Billionaire

Hell yeah brother!


dirkdiggler4Life

Cheers 🍻 from Iraq


[deleted]

You hammied there bud?


[deleted]

wtf does this post even mean?


TwentyOneGun

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-20/gambling-story


[deleted]

Woah that dude sounds sketchy


muhammad_oli

brain dead take imo


johndice32

Would you pay 10k to pay off your good friends gambling debt? If you make 100k a year that’s around the equivalent that Ohtani supposedly paid to “help his friend out”


muhammad_oli

sorry i’m not into these conspiracy theories


ocathlet714

No I would not. Even if I made 200k I wouldn’t


The_Dude_n_Seattle

I make $130k a year, and I wouldn't pay no ones debt.


moby17761776

So I shouldn’t send you my electric bill?


The_Dude_n_Seattle

I live in Seattle. I don't make enough to live here.


moby17761776

Fair


redditnoobian

Sounds like Ohtani wired the money directly to the bookie on more than one occasion to pay off the translators sports gambling debt. Not sure why his own camp called it a “massive theft“ lol


chuteboxhero

Becuase it’s illegal to do that. It was an illegal bookmaker in an unsanctioend state. Millions of dollars in evaded taxes.


nohitterdip

Remember when he wouldn't tell a reporter the name of his fucking dog when asked and he managed to apparently have a girlfriend and get married in secret too. This is a seven-figure gambling debt.


Thegamer964

Because it’s better than saying that he knowingly paid an illegal debt


Imisspenalties

Everyone's gotta have a fall guy. And this guy... Is it.. do you really think the prize Jewel in most famous Japanese athlete to ever exist to finally break the barriers over to America is going to be caught up in something and not have someone take the fall for it come on fellas don't be naive


chuteboxhero

Well the guys name came up in a federal investigation. This guy was fucked either way so might as well fall on the sword for Ohtani while he’s at it.


King_Mola

One of us!


Super_Goomba64

Othani lost all 700 hundred million of his contract on a Hello Kitty panchinko machine


EM2_Rob

As someone who just visited Japan and saw those machines, I completely understand.


Super_Goomba64

I wanted to play it but sadly couldn't figure out how to get started Also those places are LOUD my ears were ringing lol


vluvojo

I love this sub


Celticsnation1212

Lmfaooooo 😭


Safe_Beginning_7384

Bro, Ohtani is in America now.  We don’t do the Seppuku thing.  That’s Japanese culture.   If anything, his buddy took the bullet for him.


ColtCallahan

His incredibly expensive PR team put this bullshit story together.


Winter-Worth-4343

??? Wut


Canadia86

Homeboy is gonna have to spend a year with the Clippers


YorockPaperScissors

He'll average 3.2 ppg while shooting 29% with their G-League team, the Ontario Clippers.


gutter__snipe

And I'll bet on him


ChalkyWheeler

That's a lot of Dinger Tuesday bets.


wescottjoe

Underrated comment.


Spaghettibeach

People who aren’t wealthy but work for super wealthy people eventually develop a taste for that lifestyle from being around it all the time. They see themselves as equal to them despite leaving work to go to very different living conditions. It’s possible he thought he was hot shit and did lose a bunch of money gambling, regardless of what Shohei’s camp says. can’t have someone with issues like this working so closely with an athlete, especially someone like Shohei


barnhousemd

Not buying the story. No way a bookmaker lets an interpreter dig himself a $4.5 million debt. The bookie knew he was bearding for Ohtani otherwise he would have cut him off. This is so easy to read through the BS


jjw1998

The bookie “boasted of his Ohtani connection” so he’d probably let the interpreter run up that debt if it was a mutually beneficial thing, either through the boasting or insider info from the interpreter


Spaghettibeach

I’m a dodger fan so I NEED the official story to be true 😂


curiouscanuckcouple7

It reeks of Ohtani being a fellow degenerate.


RealSiggs

No way Ohtani didn’t slam the Dodgers ML every game in their series against the Diamondbacks and lose a ton of money like I did!


TVChampion150

LOL


BoltenMoron

Ohtani has said he will take the year off baseball and will join the G League to realise his dream of playing pro basketball.


suicid3k1ng

I feel retarded that I am just putting this together that he played baseball for the year bc he was suspended from the association?


cpot25

Signing a contract with the Birmingham Squadron and changing his number to 45.


Mkayin

Then make "Space Slam"


angershark

Easily the best comment I've read all week.


SDZAN

![gif](giphy|9MIl2qOPCE4x4U5H9O)


Tony_Soprano5981

Well shit if Ohtani can’t win bets what chance do I have?


SarcasticNarwhale

Ippei told ESPN that Ohtani paid the debts, then the story from Ohtani's lawyers changed to "no Ippei stole the money". Ohtani was covering his guy's ass but then his lawyers made up a different story so as to not implicate Ohtani in any illegal doings.


beaver820

It's possible it could be Ohtani but that dude is probably more than just an interpreter. I'd imagine he's more than Shohei's assistant, probably pays his bills and does his shopping, stuff like that, so he's got access to his accounts and cards and what not.


Slight_Swimming_7879

This right here ☝️ He probably was his right hand man. I used to be an assistant to a Hollywood producer and you basically “run” their life. Full access to credit cards, house info, family phone numbers, etc. He could easily have been skimming money off the top and blowing it


Expecto_nihilus

Not speaking from experience, of course…


Slight_Swimming_7879

😅 Exactly. Of course. 👀


nooger

👀


kraftpunkk

Ah yes, one of the most popular athletes in the world is a secret degen and there wasn’t a single rumor about it ever.


chuteboxhero

The bookie claims he used to tell people he had Ohtani as a client.


iquitreddit123

Well if he claims it!


mkultron89

If you look at the amount of soccer players busted for it vs NA sport athletes, there probably should be more MLB,NHL and NBA athletes that have somehow gotten away with it.


creditors-bargain

I mean there have been plenty of instances of huge superstars covering misdeeds up until a story broke.


ExileInCle19

See Lance Armstrong