NBA legend Gilbert Arenas has been arrested and charged with hosting illegal high-stakes poker games at his mansion in California.
The 43-year-old spent 12 years in the league, best known for his time with the Washington Wizards where he earned three All-Star selections and made three All-NBA teams.
‘Agent Zero’ was officially charged with one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business and one count of making false statements to federal investigators.
He appeared in court on Wednesday in Los Angeles and was released on a $50,000 bond after pleading not guilty to the charges, with a trial scheduled for September 23.
Gilbert Arenas Illegal Poker Charges Explained
The indictment alleges that Arena rented out his house and one of his associates staged the mansion for the poker games, recruited co-conspirators to host and collected rent from the co-conspirators on Arenas’ behalf.
One of those conspirators is believed to be Yevgeni ‘Giora’ Gershman, a suspected high-level member of an Israeli organised crime group. The defendants allegedly ran ‘Pot Limit Omaha’ poker games as well as others.
Poker is a widely popular card game with millions of players worldwide, both in physical and online casinos. It has been around for over 200 years and continues to grow rapidly.
Gershman faces a number of other charges including marriage fraud and making a false statement on an immigration document after allegedly entering into a sham marriage to obtain permanent legal status in the United States.
The group even hired chefs, valets and security guards to staff the games alongside young women to serve drinks and provide massages. If convicted, the defendants face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count.
While US casino laws state that hosting private poker games isn’t illegal, collecting a rake from them is against the law. In this instance, the rake was “a fee the house charged from each pot either as a percentage or a fixed amount per hand.”
Arenas is known to be a keen poker player and while playing in the NBA, he was involved in an incident with Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton. They brought guns into the locker room as a result of trash talk from a card game on a team flight.
Joe Lyons is a betting industry writer for GamblingIndustryNews with years of experience on reputable gambling websites. Joe specialises in long form content in the world of sports betting and gambling. Joe is recognised as an expert in sports fields such as horse racing, soccer, NFL and NBA.
