OT: Is Ohtani in big trouble over translator’s gambling scandal?
By now most people here know the Dodgers fired Shohei Ohtani’s longtime translator after his $4.5 million gambling debt to an illegal bookie was reportedly paid off, at least in part, by payments made from Ohtani’s account.
Everyone in this story, including Ohtani’s reps, have given shifting accounts. This smells fishy. I think this is bad for Ohtani no matter what. Either he stupidly paid off his friend’s seven-figure gambling debt — by wire, in his own name, to a bookie, thereby violating both MLB rules and California law. (Both prohibit illegal gambling). Or somehow the translator hacked Ohtani’s account — without anyone on Ohtani’s financial team noticing. Which seems unlikely. Thoughts? Theories?
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39768770/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-fired-theft
March 21st, 2024 at 11:03 AM ^
To me, his body language says it all. I think it was his debts , and didn’t he even admit that his “translators bets” weren’t on baseball?
so he is admitting he knew, or did I misread that ?
March 21st, 2024 at 11:13 AM ^
MLB will pay the translator/bookie go-between a lot of money to take the fall for Ohtani, the cash-cow of MLB.
March 21st, 2024 at 12:24 PM ^
Even if the debts were indeed Ohtani's, $4.5M for someone like him is chump change. This is more Jameson Williams than Phil Mickelson. Obviously, with continued gambling, the debts could go higher and higher. If these were Ohtani's debts (it is possible he just wanted to help his friend), hopefully this teaches him a lesson but he is still able to play baseball. He's the best player I've ever seen by far and it would be suicide if the MLB decided to levy a lifetime ban on him. Seriously, I'm not sure if the MLB would survive that. The best case scenario would be if this allows Pete Rose to finally go into the HOF, as others have pointed out..
March 21st, 2024 at 12:43 PM ^
I think he's FUCKED. Pete Rose 2.0.
Ohtani's contract was one of the strangest in history. He made it out to be about the team winning now. Given the inconsistent story about the gambling debt, it seems to me most likely it's his and not his translators. Thinking about the contract, Ohtani knows he is a compulsive gambler and he's piss away tons of the money if he gets it now. So, he strings it out well past his playing days in the hopes he would overcome this issue, especially once the stress of his playing days was over.
Dude says he was going to pay Ohtani back $4.5M, making $300k-$500k/yr. Yea, right.
Maybe Ohtani's new wife was part of an attempt to Gretzky himself out of this trouble?
Stopped in to see the MJ/White Sox references and was not disappointed.
I do feel, with the benefit of having absolutely no insider knowledge at all, this feels like the translator is Ohtani's errand boy and is now falling on his sword to protect the meal ticket. If so, this could be pretty huge. If not, it'll still be at least a medium-sized story.
I also think the normalization/legalization of sports gambling is going to go not very well for thousands of folks. Lots of addiction and lots of human toll as we continue to be bombarded with Fan Duel/Draft Kings ads, or betting inside the stadia. Some people can handle this, many cannot: please check out 1-800-GAMBLER (426-2537) if you need help!
The A’s moving to Vegas and now this - Finally time for the all-time hits leader to be inducted into the HOF.