Celebrities That Have Been Jailed For Gambling Online and Why
Jails are overflowing but most people don’t care of those stuck behind bars. However, when a celebrity is arrested and jailed it makes headlines. Yes, the world sits up and takes notice as it did in the case of several celebrities, especially those who gamble online. Celebrities are held in awe, looked up to as role models and kind of worshipped so, when they break the law it makes news.
Bryan Zuriff
Bryan Zuriff’s claim to fame is that he is the producer of a successful TV series Roy Donovan. He earned fame elsewhere when he became involved with a Russian mobster, Hollywood madam and an art dealer to become embroiled in an international sports betting scam leading to his arrest. The Russian mob masterminded a high stakes poker syndicate ring and sports betting online. He was charged with operating an illegal sports gambling business and others to which he pled guilty. Zuriff worked as a bookie and front man for the Russian mafia, operating in Hollywood as well as in New York under the guidance of Hillel Nahmad, an art dealer. Hollywood poker madam, Molly Bloom, revealed that big name Hollywood stars gamble regularly, including Tobey Maguire of Spiderman fame. The Zuriff operation netted them $100 million in unlawful profits.
Too much of a good thing is always a bad thing
Jung Jin Woo
Psy’s Gangnam is still fresh in the minds of music lovers but Jung Jin Woo, the South Korean Pop Star behind it, is behind bars. The video on YouTube gained 3.1 billion views. Jung Jin Woo, member of the M2M group, was a singer in the Psy K-Pop group. He was jailed for one year because he gambled on illegal gambling sites. The amount he bet through 1500 individual transactions added up to $3.1 million. It is a fact that he was caught at one time and let off with a warning but his addiction proved too strong and he persisted, leading to his arrest. He purportedly took to gambling to keep up his extravagant lifestyle.
Why Jung Jin, Why?
Guo Meimei
Guo Meimei was born with the proverbial silver spoon in the mouth to a millionaire family. She went on to attend the Beijing Film Academy and planned a career in the entertainment industry. Her Instagram and Weibo accounts brought her fame but she allegedly wanted pots and pots of money which is what led her to organizing poker during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. What led her to do this? She had an extravagant lifestyle and wanted money to keep it up. The poker arrest led to her receiving a five year prison sentence and $7,800 in fines. She was just 24 when she had this taste for boyfriends, expensive cars and extravagant lifestyle that led to her operating the casino in her apartment.
Billy Walters
Billy Walters had a better than average run of luck when he took to sports betting. His gambling career spanned 39 years out of which the winning stream lasted for 30 years netting him millions. His forte was sports betting and he won $2.2 million on the University of Southern California vs University of Michigan in 2007. However, in 2017 he was arrested and jailed for five years in addition to paying a $10 million fine for insider trading rather than directly for gambling. But this story shows that even earning from gambling and living a high roller lifestyle makes one thirsty for more. This leads you to illegal activities to get fast money and you land behind the bars.
To avoid getting into trouble like any of these guys, one is that the best things to do is to gamble only on legal, licensed sites that believe in fair play and responsible gambling. Rather than gamble at illegal gambling casinos online and do so recklessly, losing money in the process, it is better to rather use free spins and grab those no deposit bonus offers. You will find some awesome free spins and no deposit bonuses on offer.
Tony Ahn, Lee Soo Geun, Andy
This time it is a bunch of South Korean celebrities who got together to indulge in online illegal gambling. Lee Soo Geun, Tony Ahn and Take Jae and three other celebrities were convicted for six months in jail in 2013. The lure of lucre proved too much for these celebrities who had a good thing going but wanted more money. They used their smart-phones to bet huge amounts on the English Premier League matches. Tony Ahn gambled 400 million from 2009 to 2012. Lee Soo Geun gambled 370 million between 2008 and 2011. All these guys were apparently lured by a person at their soccer club and by a broker. The rest, as they say, is history.
Calvin Edward Ayre
Ayre is a Canadian-Antiguan entrepreneur who made it big with his Ayre Group and Bodog Entertainment. He became a billionaire and a celebrity featured on the cover of Forbes magazine that named him the most eligible billionaire bachelor of 2007. However, he was charged with illegal gambling and money laundering but pled guilty to a single charge. Luckily for him, good sense aprevailed, and he went on to become an Economic Envoy for Antigua and Barbuda.
