Sportonomics: Sports Gambling and a Tragic Story of Trust (Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara)

                                                PHOTO VIA FOX SPORTS

As of May 13, much news has emerged in the Ippei Mizuhara scandal. Shohei Ohtani's key translator and known best friend was inevitably found out to have made a string of $500,000 payments sent from Ohtani's own bank account to an illegal operation. These payments were also sent to casinos, including in the areas of California and Las Vegas. The money was subsequently transferred into gambling accounts and later cashed out to pay the bookie of the operation. Mizuhara was immediately fired from his position with the Los Angeles Dodgers and as Shohei Ohtani's interpreter. Crazily enough, Ohtani's thought-of-best friend Mizuhara has seemingly stolen $16 million over two years with the new Dodgers superstar. To much of social media and the San Francisco Giants fans' chagrin, U.S. attorney Martin Estrada clarified that "Mr. Ohtani is considered a victim in this case." The Major League Baseball (MLB) organization will wait until the criminal proceedings have ended to determine whether they will further investigate the issue on their own. There were many speculations online, whether it was Instagram or TikTok, that Ohtani was in some form a culprit in the scandal. However, Estrada stated that there was no evidence that Ohtani had even the slightest bit of knowledge of Mizuhara's gambling and usage of Ohtani's own bank account. One might think: how did Ohtani even let this happen? Let's dive in. 

            AP PHOTO/CAROLYN KASTER, FILE

It was in 2018 that Mizuhara began "overhandling" Shohei Ohtani's finances and life. 2018 marked the year Ohtani moved to the U.S. after signing a professional-level deal with the Anaheim Angels, and so Mizuhara aided in opening a bank account where his salary with the Angels organization would be deposited. Interestingly, Ohtani states that he never allowed Mizuhara control over his accounts. Yet, Mizuehara, according to the affidavit, allegedly told Ohtani's own advisors and financial accountants that Ohtani had not allowed them access to his accounts. Why would this matter; couldn't the advisors talk to Shohei directly? No, none of the advisors or financial accountants spoke Japanese, meaning Mizuhara's "trickery" was unquestioned. Text messages from Mizuhara and a "bookie" date back to September 2021, when Mizuhara might have begun gambling. In these texts, it becomes clear he has lost a significant sum of money later in that same year. Mizuhara was so addicted to gambling that he averaged 25 bets per day between December that year and January 2024, which ranged from a conservative $10 all the way to $160,00 per bet. In total, Mizuhara reached over 19,000 bets throughout that time period and, according to authorities, netted a loss of exactly $40,678,436. You might think that gambling 25 times per day consistently for years would help earn you money, but Mizuhara proves you very wrong.

                                                            BILL ROBLES VIA AP

Mizuhara's intent was clear; he asked the bookie numerous times for more credit, and on November 14, 2022, he texted: "I'm terrible at this sport betting thing." Another crucial aspect of the federal investigation into Ippei Mizuhara comes in the form of phone calls. In phone calls to banks, for instance, Mizuhara can be heard falsely identifying himself as his, at one point, best friend and interpreter, Shohei Ohtani, in order to deceive the bank into allowing the wire transfers. In one text, Mizuhara's bookie seemingly threatened him: "I don't know why you're not returning my calls. I'm here in Newport Beach and I see [Ohtani] walking his dog. I'm just gonna go up and talk to him." It becomes quite clear Mizuhara was extremely addicted to betting and gambling and was evidently willing to not only deceive many others but Ohtani as well. Unsurprisingly, many were shocked at this news. 

                                                                       ROB LEITER/MLB PHOTOS VIA GETTY IMAGES

I mean, how could Ohtani's best friend do this? There are no clear answers except for the fact that Mizuhara visibly had a strong addiction to gambling, even more so than he had a strong friendship with Ohtani. In reality, Ippei Mizuhara and Ohtani had been friends for over 10 years. The pair first met when Ohtani began playing for the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2013, where Ippei was working as the team's translator. When Ohtani signed a deal in the U.S., he brought Mizuhara with him as more than just a translator, as a friend. Ohtani relied on Mizuhara for everything from daily interactions to bank accounts and utilities. And so, Mizuhara took advantage of this trust and relationship. He used his position to steal from the star baseball player (who recently signed a deal of $700 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers) and further his own gambling issues. An entirely innocent Ohtani has witnessed Ippei Mizuhara plead guilty to a count of bank fraud and will most likely watch as he is sentenced to a maximum of thirty-three years in federal prison.