As he awaits sentencing for three felonies related to his multimillion-dollar illegal bookmaking operation, fallen high-roller Mathew Bowyer continues to give up his right to remain silent — just in time for the largest sports gambling event of the year.

Bowyer, who was happy to take millions in bets from Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s translator, this past week expressed his opinion that perhaps half of all professional athletes bet on sports.

“I know some of them are still betting on sports,” he told The New York Post’s Josh Kosman. “If 50 percent are gambling, I would think 10 percent of those are compulsive gamblers.”

Bowyer, who knows plenty about compulsive gambling, estimated that only a small percentage of pro athletes bet on their own sport. He offered scant proof beyond his criminal credentials and proximity to the action. Department of Justice prosecutors in Bowyer’s case concluded he counted “then-current and former professional athletes” among his estimated 700 clients.

Although Bowyer’s interview was an exclusive, the 49-year-old married father of five has hardly been silent on his favorite subject after pleading guilty in August of operating an illegal gambling business, money laundering and subscribing a false tax return. At a time when others might have followed a good attorney’s admonition to lay low until his scheduled April 4 sentencing date has passed, Bowyer has kept busy on social media rapping about his glamorous gambling life and even trading quips with convicted drug trafficker and illegal bookie Owen Hanson.

Bowyer told the Post he used his illegal gambling operation to live a high life that included a Rolls Royce, Lamborghini and his own multimillion-dollar gambling addiction that played out on the Strip at Resorts World Las Vegas. In the process, he dragged his wife, Nicole Bowyer, along with him, fronting her as his independent marketing representative at the casino.

These days Bowyer is preaching online about the dangers of compulsive gambling like a Saturday night sinner at a Sunday tent revival. Who knows, maybe he’s not just a poorer man, but a changed one as well.

Unlike other changed men, Bowyer tells the reporter he’s planning to self-publish a book on his adventures in illegal bookmaking, money laundering and creative tax paying. From the sound of things, his memoir will include plenty of lessons learned from the extremely comfortable pit of a high-roller’s addiction.

He also said, presumably with a straight face, that he feels sorry for former Ohtani translator Ippei Mizuhara, whose gambling addiction was facilitated by Bowyer and fueled by the baseball slugger’s bank account. (Those Lamborghinis don’t pay for themselves, pal.)

With Bowyer as his bookie, Mizuhara was convicted of stealing approximately $17 million from Ohtani. He was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release for theft, bank fraud and tax crimes. He was also ordered to pay restitution.

What should be appreciated is the remarkable rate at which Mizuhara placed his bets: more than 19,000 wagers totaling nearly $183 million spread over just 28 months from September 2021 to January 2024. He ended up losing more than $40 million to Bowyer, who knew Mizuhara was a sucker on tilt, and increased his betting limits “on a regular basis,” according to federal prosecutors.

The investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation and U.S. Homeland Security agents recovered hundreds of texts between the two men. When Mizuhara was slow to pay his debts, Bowyer threatened to tell Ohtani. The bookie also led others to believe he was booking the baseball star’s bets. An investigation cleared Ohtani of all wrongdoing and any association with Bowyer.

Mizuhara was Bowyer’s fish: hooked, played and gutted.

After betraying a friend and benefactor, and now losing his freedom, Mizuhara told the court, “I want to say I am truly sorry to Mr. Ohtani for what I have done.”

His contrition didn’t move U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb to sentence him to the 18 months he’d sought or show him much leniency at all in the high-file case. The judge called the theft “shockingly high.”

I wonder what the judge and the prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California will have to say about Bowyer’s behavior and degree of remorse for his actions. He faces as long as a decade in prison for the money laundering conviction alone, but is hoping for a much softer landing. Will he feel the same sting of justice felt by Mizuhara?

Does Bowyer truly regret robbing Ohtani by proxy, or just sorry he got caught? He doesn’t exactly look all torn up about it on social media.

As Mizuhara prepares to report to prison on March 24, Bowyer is preparing to see his name splash in the pages of a major magazine about the time of his April 4 sentencing.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in New Lines, Time, Readers Digest, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Reuters and Desert Companion, among others.