So, it's looking like Billy Walters is finally headed off to jail. But one thing that amazes me is a completely different law that he never broke.

Bill Walters found a way to legally hire runners for many years--decades even--when it seems that few others were able to crack the code of the Nevada law. An article from ESPN once quoted Clark County's chief deputy district attorney, saying that Billy Walters' use of runners was completely complicit with Nevada law:

[O]ne of Walters' attorneys visited the county prosecutor's office -- without prodding -- armed with records detailing how the gambling operation was set up legitimately through a limited liability corporation. The move surprised and impressed authorities, as did the fact that a former Vegas detective was overseeing the group's security arm. "They had one of the biggest law firms in the city set up their entire corporation and their books," says Brian Rutledge, Clark County's chief deputy district attorney. "It was scrupulously set up to be in compliance with all the gaming regulations. They were better set up legally than your average business, let's put it that way."

Source: http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/sto...versial-bettor

My question is: how? And please do NOT point to SB 443 because Billy Walters found a way to legally hire runners BEFORE SB 443 was even passed. Also, SB 443 isn't particularly helpful when very few casinos are allowing entity betting anyway.

If anybody has any thoughts, I'm really, really curious. This has always been a mystery to me, and I'm really curious how he pulled this off. Thanks in advance!

You split the wagers.

If the person is taking a percentage of the action it's legal. As a result all of the beards would sign contracts saying they were getting X% of the action. Hilariously this still wasn't good enough as they then went after one of his guys for filing a false CTR as the person signed the CTR under his own name instead of writing the name of Billy's company. The guy was found guilty, but fortunately the judge realized what a laughable case it was and gave him pretty much no punishment.

Another thing I know he did is that he'd have his people actually go offshore to bet offshore. Even though it's not actually illegal to bet offshore in many states if you are only placing wagers, he didn't want to leave himself open to the creative interpretations of the law that the Feds had attempted to use in the past to take his money.

70 years old worth god knows ( 350 mill publicly) and tons of hidden cash and he's gonna spend 5-7 behind bars. Why didn't he just go quit while he was wayyyyyyy ahead ? So sharp and meticulously careful in some matters, so greedy and short sighted in others. My favorite betting moment came after going 17-2 on props one Sunday on a half ass bms half ass square betting site was getting shut off cause I was workin for " Billy Waters" ( not a typo). The moron bm didn't even know his name lol. Ahhhh the good ole days.

Many thanks for your responses! Definitely very helpful.

One quick follow-up: if this legally done through pooling money and profit sharing, has SB 443 now made this illegal (unless, of course, you legally setup an entity and bet through CG Technology, the only book that currently allows entity betting)? Here's section 3, subsection 7 quoted in full:

Link to full text of SB 443: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/...B/SB443_EN.pdf

I actually wasn't aware of this aspect of the law change. To be honest I doubt Billy or any other people bet much in Vegas anymore anyway, since there are private bookies that would take more action on a typical college game than all the books in Vegas put together times five. There is still a workaround. What you would do is set up a contract saying that you are not wagering on behalf of the other person, that you are wagering your own money and are simply choosing to receive handicapping advice from the other person and paying them a fee for the handicapping advice.

Personally though, the whole thing wouldn't be worth it in the end. It's not even illegal to bet with locals in most states and everybody just does that now anyway, rather than bet in Vegas where limits suck, all but three books will show you the boot for winning, and you will have tons of CTRs/SARs filed against you which makes you look like you are involved in money laundering (leaving you vulnerable to seizure) even if you are a mere sports bettor.

His ego would never let him quit. My friend was a runner for him years ago. The stories he told me ...

interesting subject..............

i remember he got pretty creative with his runners. they'd have their own corporations and i can't remember how the $$$$ flowed back to billy....

i would think that if i'm a runner for billy and say "oh i'm my own corporation. i have my 'own' capital which i bet ... but i pass through 90% of my profits to billy" that that doesn't pass muster.

Would he do an AMA on the subject?

I actually wasn't aware of this aspect of the law change. To be honest I doubt Billy or any other people bet much in Vegas anymore anyway, since there are private bookies that would take more action on a typical college game than all the books in Vegas put together times five. There is still a workaround. What you would do is set up a contract saying that you are not wagering on behalf of the other person, that you are wagering your own money and are simply choosing to receive handicapping advice from the other person and paying them a fee for the handicapping advice.


Of course he and any other winning group still be in a Vegas. The limits may suck but they are never leaving ANY fruit unharvested .