Kayshon Boutte, a wide receiver of the New England Patriots, got arrested due to accusations related to illegal online gaming. He is accused of being involved in illegal gaming while he played at Louisiana State University and was underage.
Illegal online betting and betting on himself:
Boutte allegedly created an online betting account using a fake name, Kayla Fortenberry, and through that account, he placed over 8.900 illegal bets using his mother’s credit card. Among them, 17 were placed on NCAA football games, and six were on LSU football between August 28, 2022, and October 9, 2023. For things to be even worse, it seems Boutte played in two of these games, and in one particular game, LSU versus Florida State, he bet on himself. He placed a bet that he would score at least one touchdown and that he’d have more than 82.5 receiving yards. Ironically, he lost that bet and finished the game without touchdowns. The player won more than $500.000 in total on all these bets.
Now 21, Boutte is a part of the Patriots’ roster as a wide receiver.
Huge fine and time in prison:
Boutte was accused of a felony, computer fraud, and misdemeanor. He was arrested on January 25, and released after he placed a $6,000 bond.
For computer fraud, Boutte might get up to $10.000 fine and a maximum of five years in prison, and illegal gambling can increase the punishment by up to $1,000 fine and an additional six months in jail.
As Associated Press reports, FanDuel Sportsbook informed Louisiana State Police last year in July saying that “a prohibited person, a collegiate athlete, possibly made several sports wagers.”
As it is stated in the warrant, Boutte deposited $132,147,53 and won $556,267,58 in total. He didn’t see much of that money, though, since he used it to place more bets. He has withdrawn from that account $50,282,36.
Boutte is a successful athlete who spent three years as a wide receiver at LSU. In total, he was a part of 27 games and started in 21 of them.
LSU issued a statement last July, claiming: “Since then, we have fully cooperated with all relevant authorities involved in the investigation and will continue to do so. We have no evidence that any other student-athletes participated in these prohibited activities, and we are grateful for measures that detect and discourage sports gambling-related misconduct.”
Patriots didn’t want to comment much on the recent course of events, but they claimed they were sure that Boutte was complying with the investigation.