Bowyer’s relationship with gambling dates back before 2011, when he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. At the time he was a divorced father of four earning $65,652 a year working for a trading company, according to federal court records. He reported gambling losses totaling $425,000 in 2010 and 2011 to the Cosmopolitan and Aria casinos in Las Vegas.

Bowyer also had taken a total of $524,000 in personal loans from three people, two of them registered real estate agents in Orange County, contributing to $2 million in liabilities with only $879,000 in assets — mostly for his then-home in Aliso Viejo, bankruptcy documents show.

In 2019, Bowyer formed Pick Enterprises, a Nevada-based corporation that lost its right to do business in California for failure to meet tax requirements, according to the California secretary of state’s website.

The investigation into Bowyer is linked to the probe into Wayne Nix, a former minor league pitcher and bookmaker whose clients included ex-Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig. Nix pleaded guilty to conspiracy to operate an illegal sports gambling business in 2022. There have been nearly a dozen other indictments, said the Washington Post.

Heavy debts at Las Vegas casinos

Court records show Bowyer had trouble with some casinos, which sued him for not paying his marker or bouncing a check, the Post reported.

The Aria casino filed a $250,000 suit against him for an allegedly bounced check, with the litigation ultimately being dismissed, the Post said.

The Post and the Los Angeles Times reported Bowyer was given $1.2 million in credit by Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut after his bankruptcy, but he failed to pay back the marker. The casino sued him in tribal court, according to the Post, and was still trying to collect on the debt in Orange County Superior Court in 2023.

A source close to Bowyer said he was initially banned by some Las Vegas casinos, and now with the federal investigation is unwelcome at all casinos. He currently is writing an autobiography.

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Staff writer Destiny Torres contributed to this report.

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