Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter scandal deepens as bookie makes headline-grabbing statement

Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter and confidant of Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, became embroiled in a sports-betting scandal on Monday. In an exclusive interview with The New York Post, the convicted bookmaker that had allegedly accepted hundreds of millions of dollars as wagers from Mizuhara believes almost half of the professional athletes are betting on sports.

Matthew Bowyer of Orange County, California, was the preferred bookmaker of choice for Ippei Mizuhara. According to the prosecutors, Mizuhara made around 19,000 wagers with the bookie between September 2021 and January 2024. Bowyer is awaiting his sentence on February 4 after pleading guilty to illegal sports betting, money laundering, and filing a false tax return in August 2024.

In his first-ever interview with the media, Matthew Bowyer told The Post that many of the current athletes are indulging in some form of sports betting.

“I know some of them are still betting on sports,” he said. “If 50 percent are gambling, I would think 10 percent of those are compulsive gamblers.”

He even named MLB's all-time hit king Pete Rose as one of his former clients. Bowyer said he started taking bets from Rose around 2004 when the latter was living in Las Vegas.

“Rose just loved the action,” Bowyer said. “He was absolutely compulsive. No question.”

Rose, who was handed a lifetime ban in 1989 for gambling on baseball, had passed away last September.

He had a massive gambling addiction: Matthew Bowyer on Shohei Ohtani's interpreter

Ippei Mizuhara allegedly stole around $17 million from Shohei Ohtani (Image Source: IMAGN)

Meanwhile, Ippei Mizuhara is set to face his sentence on April 6 for stealing around $17 million from Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani. The prosecutors want a 57-month sentence for Mizuhara and a three-year supervised release in addition to paying back the sum to Ohtani. The interpreter also pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and another for submitting a false tax return.

“It was very obvious he was stealing money and not asking Shohei Ohtani for permission,” Matthew Bowyer told in his interview with The Post. “He never acted as if the dollar amounts impacted him for one second. He was so polite and so respectful.

"I asked him if he was OK,” Bowyer added. "He said, "I’m just terrible at this." I would try to control him a little bit. I truly believe he had a massive gambling addiction problem.”

Ippei Mizuhara had first come in contact with Shohei Ohtani in 2013 while the latter was playing for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in the NPB. Mizuhara was later hired by the Los Angeles Angels to be the personal interpreter for Ohtani after he was posted to the MLB in 2017.