Shohei Ohtani denies everything to do with Ippei Mizuhara and the investigation into him betting on sports, specifically Major League Baseball

Shohei Ohtani spoke to the media today and openly denied all allegations against him concerning illegal gambling on professional sports and Major League Baseball. 

Ohtani addressed the media on Monday for the first time since the scandal involving his now ex-interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. Speaking through new interpreter Will Ireton, Ohtani flat-out denied that he had ever bet on baseball or any other sport.

Shohei Ohtani’s full statement about Ippei Mizuhara and the gambling allegations

Shohei Ohtani’s full statement about Ippei Mizuhara and the gambling allegations pic.twitter.com/ENVDFFAnEp

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 25, 2024

“I never bet on baseball or any other sports,” said Ohtani, per Sam Blum of The Athletic. “I have never asked someone to do that on my behalf. I never went through a bookmaker. Up until a couple days ago, I had no idea this was happening.”

Ohtani flat-out said that his former interpreter Mizuhara had been “stealing money from his account” and told lies, adding that he was very saddened and shocked that someone he trusted had done this. 

Mizuhara was accused by Ohtani’s legal team of stealing millions of dollars to place bets with Matthew Boyer, a resident of Orange County who was under investigation for being part of an illegal gambling scheme.

After the Los Angeles Times learned that Ohtani’s name had come up as a part of the investigation, Mizuhara’s name was revealed. 

The result was Mizuhara being fired by the Dodgers last Wednesday.

A day prior, Mizuhara told a different story to ESPN after the worldwide leader in sports became aware of two wire payments of $500,000 sent from Ohtani’s account to one of Bowyer’s associates last September and October. 

That Tuesday, an Ohtani spokesperson told ESPN that Ohtani had transferred the funds in order to cover Mizuhara’s gambling debt while making him available for an interview. 

Mizuhara claimed he had asked Ohtani to help him pay off his gambling debt, and that Ohtani decided to “help me out to make sure I never do this again.”

He added that he had been under the impression that he was gambling legally and that Ohtani had “zero involvement” in gambling himself while stating that he had promised to pay Ohtani back. Additionally, he stated that Ohtani had refused to give him the money personally because he did not trust his interpreter to gamble it away. 

A spokesperson from Ohtani’s team then responded by saying that their client (Ohtani) was a victim of “massive theft” which prompted Mizuhara to change his story from what he told ESPN a day earlier to a new claim that Ohtani had no knowledge of his gambling debts or efforts to pay them off.

So yeah, this story has obviously changed too many times and it definitely looks like Mizuhara initially told the truth about what happened before walking it back to keep Ohtani out of trouble. 

The speculation online that Ohtani himself had been gambling or at the very least, knew what his good friend and interpreter was doing when he allegedly paid $4.5 million in gamble debt is warranted.

I think it still remains unclear on Ohtani’s knowledge level even after hearing him speak to the media today. 

A more sinister view on this would suggest that Ohtani got caught placing bets by the FBI and Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the FBI all got together and decided that this could look really bad (billions lost in marketing money) if the best baseball player in the world went down for illegally betting on sports. The solution would obviously be to have someone close to Ohtani (Mizuhara) take the fall. 

There’s just no way MLB would “Pete Rose” Ohtani. The illegal part here is the fact that Mizuhara was placing bets on an illegal book. It was mentioned that there were no bets on baseball and surely, that information is easily obtainable to prove that statement.

I really don’t care of Ohtani was betting on anything. The way every professional sports league and team has cozied up to legal sports books in America and then immediately punishes their employees (players) for gambling is pretty disgusting. 

Major League Baseball is currently investigating Ohtani but if we’re being totally honest, I highly doubt he will face any punishment given the fact that he’s the main worldwide revenue driver for the league. 

If anything, this case should prove that the regulations against sportsbooks and professional athletes (if used legally) should be revisited and a new plan should be in place. Either that, or you get professional sports organizations to stop taking money from companies like DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM, among others.

I think we both know what’s more likely.

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