Mystery Former Baseball Pro Embroiled in Illegal Gambling Operation in Ohio, Per Federal Indictment

Posted on: August 30, 2019, 03:13h. 

Last updated on: August 30, 2019, 03:50h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More

Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

A former professional baseball player is entangled in a illegal gambling case in northern Ohio, Cleveland.com reports.

The ex-player is mentioned but not named in a federal indictment against alleged illegal bookie Clinton Reider, who lives in Mentor-on the-Lake, northeast of Cleveland.

Reider is accused of operating a large-scale sports betting operation that was pulling in big money, and the former major-leaguer is described as his “co-conspirator.”

The mystery man allegedly worked for Reider and allowed him to use his credit card to hide payments.

Naturally, the indictment has invited speculation as to the man’s identity. CleveScene.com noted this week that the number of retired baseball players who call Northeast Ohio home “isn’t exactly a large list,” and wondered whether he is a former Indians player, while acknowledging that there’s no evidence he currently lives in the Cleveland area.

$1.5 Million in Buy-ins

Neither Reider nor the baseball player has been charged with a federal crime, although it’s unclear why. The feds are trying to seize Reider’s lakeside house through civil forfeiture on the grounds that it was obtained through violations of federal laws prohibiting transmitting gambling information, running an illegal gambling business, and money laundering.

According to the indictment, Reider began his bookmaking business in 2010. It flew under the radar for five years until the IRS became aware of it in March 2015.

Although the amount of cash generated by Reider’s gambling operation cannot be determined with any precision, records document that he ‘bought in’ on table games at the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland in excess of $1.5 million in cash from 2012 through 2016,” the indictment states, referring to the casino that is now the JACK Cleveland.

According to court documents, he used offshore sports betting websites — presumably price-per-head operations — based in Costa Rica, Panama and Curacao to make and lay-off bets, sending money via Western Union while breaking up each payment into units of under $3,000 to swerve around financial reporting requirements. He also ran local high-stakes poker games.

Clients Spill the Beans

Feds also interviewed several of Reider’s clients, who said they had received a combined $500,000 from Reider via check or PayPal, although the witnesses said he primarily worked with cash.

He kept detailed records of his collections and payments in a notebook, which investigators were able to retrieve, albeit shredded, from his trash and piece together.

Reider also siphoned gambling money into his parents’ bank accounts, which he used to make payments on the mortgage of his house.

Ohio is the home state of Pete Rose, the star of baseball’s second-most famous gambling scandal, after the “Black Sox” World Series fix of 1919.

Rose was famously banned from baseball permanently for betting on games, including those directly involving the Cincinnati Reds, which he managed at the time, although there is no suggestion that he involved in this case in any way whatsoever.