Las Vegas Man Accused of $8 Million Sports Betting Operation Says Undercover Witness Payment Supports Entrapment Claim

W.W.R., a 57-year-old Las Vegas resident, is fighting felony charges tied to an alleged illegal bookmaking operation that prosecutors say handled around $8 million in wagers through Nevada sportsbooks and an offshore website based in Costa Rica. The wrinkle that matters for high-risk operators: court records now show an undercover witness was paid between $5,000 and $6,000 after helping the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the FBI.

1. According to newly unsealed grand jury transcripts reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the witness, Pietro Ventrella, placed bets through R. and secretly recorded meetings with him while working with law enforcement. The payment came after he assisted investigators, and R.’s lawyer, Chris Rasmussen, says that fact helps support an entrapment argument.
2. R. was officially indicted last month on multiple felony charges. Prosecutors say the alleged operation involved about $8 million in wagers, routed through Nevada sportsbooks and an offshore site based in Costa Rica. For PSPs and acquiring teams, that combination is the familiar red flag cocktail: local betting activity, offshore infrastructure, and account movement tied together in one file.
3. Rasmussen says his client is a sports information provider, not an illegal bookmaker, and that he has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. He also said investigators were “pretty aggressive” in their attempts to contact R. through his gym and wife, which he says raises entrapment concerns.
4. The investigation reportedly began almost four years ago after the mother of R.’s child, with whom he is in an ongoing custody dispute, told the Gaming Control Board that he was operating as a bookie. The witness testified that he connected with R. through R.’s wife after visiting his gym in northwest Las Vegas, then met him at a steakhouse inside Caesars Palace, where he recorded their conversation on a phone investigators had given him.
5. In that meeting, R. allegedly discussed an arrangement involving a Costa Rica-based operation and offered Ventrella a 15% to 20% commission for new customers, according to the recording described in court documents. Investigators also said they placed multiple undercover wagers after R. gave them account credentials and later received text messages confirming account balances.

Rasmussen disputes the prosecution’s reading of the Costa Rica reference, saying it referred to a website that provides sports betting lines rather than a platform facilitating illegal wagers. R. operates Wild Bill Consulting Inc., a sports information service promoted on Instagram. Prosecutor Chief Deputy District Attorney Austin Beaumont defended the witness payment, saying compensation for confidential sources assisting law enforcement is not unusual.

R. was arrested in April, and the case was briefly dismissed before a grand jury returned an indictment. The FBI and Gaming Control Board declined to comment, and Ventrella could not be reached by the newspaper.