A court in Rochester, New York, has sentenced two men to three years of probation for having run an illegal gambling ring. According to WROC-TV’s RochesterFirst.com, the case mainly revolved around Louis Ferrari (42) and Dominic Sprague (40).
In addition, Hon. Elizabeth A. Wolford, the US District Judge who oversaw the trial on Wednesday, mandated that both men spend ten months under house arrest. Ferrari was also ordered to forfeit $150,000 of his profits, while Sprague had to hand over a sum of $92,000.
Regulation surrounding casino gaming and sports betting is becoming more and more widespread in the US, and in 2022, New York followed in the footsteps of New Jersey and legalized online sports betting. This followed legislation introduced several years prior that made it possible for operators to obtain licenses and run brick-and-mortar gambling businesses in the state. Ferrari and Sprague, however, failed to establish their gambling operations in line with NY state regulations.
Prosecutors claimed that Ferrari ran the gambling ring for several years in partnership with Sprague, who was his second-in-command, along with around half a dozen other individuals. Operations mainly involved an illegal online sportsbook as well as an unlicensed brick-and-mortar poker establishment in Rochester, and each day of operation netted them around $2,000 in revenue.
The Problems Surrounding Unlicensed Gambling Operations
As reported by Democrat and Chronicle, court papers by Assistant US Attorney Meghan McGuire, who served as the lead prosecutor, read that illegal gambling businesses do not have state regulators to turn to when disputes between the operator and bettors arise. Instead, debt collection and problem resolution are achieved through “intimidation, threats, and violence.”
Indeed, Ferrari has been accused of having resorted to violence when suspicion of a former manager having snitched to authorities arose prior to his arrest, and armed individuals were spotted by undercover police officers in his poker venue.
While Ferrari expressed guilt during Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Wolford pointed out that Ferrari had been informed of the ongoing investigation, yet continued “being involved in criminal activity.” As for how he knew of law enforcement’s probe, it was retired State Police Sergeant Thomas Loewke, a friend of Ferrari’s, who told him about the investigation.
Earlier this year, residents of the state of New York also witnessed the arrests of several other individuals who, too, were involved in illicit activities surrounding gambling. The case was connected to former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter, who was found to have engaged in spot-fixing in order to settle gambling debts. Once news of his involvement in manipulating games came to light, Porter was handed a lifetime ban from the NBA and later pleaded guilty to wire fraud. His sentencing is scheduled for December 18th, 2024. Long Phi Pham, Mahmud Mollah, and Timothy McCormack, who were determined to be co-conspirators in the scheme, were all arrested in June, while the fourth suspect, Ammar Awawdeh, turned himself in.
