{"id":149171,"date":"2020-09-17T12:05:35","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T19:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=149171"},"modified":"2020-09-17T14:02:37","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T21:02:37","slug":"football-pool-operator-cant-sue-new-jersey-for-malicious-prosecution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-pool-operator-cant-sue-new-jersey-for-malicious-prosecution\/","title":{"rendered":"Football Pool Operator Can\u2019t Sue New Jersey for Malicious Prosecution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Appellate judges in New Jersey have ruled that a former private football pool<\/a> operator cannot claim malicious prosecution against the state. The ruling declared the operator was not vindicated at his trial four years ago, The Asbury Park Press <\/em>reports.<\/p>\n

\"John
John Bovery\u2019s office pool grew into a monster over a period of 20 years, with thousands of paying customers across the world. (Image: NJ.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Bovery is a former Wall Street executive turned teacher, who was busted in 2010 for running a six-figure NFL survivor pool with thousands of entrants. He argues that his operation was not illegal under New Jersey law.<\/p>\n

Bovery claims he was the victim of a naked state-sanctioned cash grab when, just days before the start of that year\u2019s season, prosecutors seized $846,000 from his bank accounts, charging him with promoting gambling and money laundering.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bovery\u2019s bail was set at $250,000 cash, which he couldn\u2019t pay because the state had seized all of his money.<\/p>\n

Voluntary Vig<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In April 2010, Bovery accepted a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to a lesser charge of possessing gambling records. Criminal charges were dismissed after he took the court\u2019s pretrial intervention program.<\/p>\n

But the state got to keep the money because prosecutors brought a successful forfeiture action against him, proving the money came from illegal gambling.<\/p>\n

\n

Bovery says it didn\u2019t because he never took a vig. Instead, he asked entrants and winners to donate \u201cgifts\u201d voluntarily, something prosecutors dispute. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There is no reference to office pools in New Jersey gaming law. But a person is guilty of promoting gambling when he or she “(a)ccepts or receives money or other property, pursuant to an agreement or understanding with any person whereby he participates or will participate in the proceeds of gambling activity.”<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Appellate Division of Superior Court upheld a 2019 ruling by Monmouth County Superior Court that dismissed Bovery\u2019s legal bid to claw back the cash.<\/p>\n

High-Level Entrants<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Bovery launched the pool in 1990 with a few dozen Wall Street friends. In its final full year, there were 8,377 entries from around the world, each paying $100 to play. The winner walked away with $520,000 after striking a deal with three other players.<\/p>\n

According to Bovery, players included well-known sports broadcasters, New Jersey state troopers, \u201cdozens\u201d of lawyers, and the agents for several PGA Tour golfers<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The operation was uncovered by complete accident. One year, the winner of the pool just happened to be an associate of Joseph LaScala, capo of the New Jersey faction of the Genovese crime family. He was already the subject of a police investigation, and detectives wanted to know why Bovery had sent him a check for a large sum of money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Appellate judges in New Jersey have ruled that a former private football pool operator cannot claim malicious prosecution against the state. The ruling declared the operator was not vindicated at his trial four years ago, The Asbury Park Press reports. John Bovery is a former Wall Street executive turned teacher, who was busted in 2010 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":149173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFootball Pool Operator Can\u2019t Sue New Jersey for Malicious Prosecution<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Football pool operator John Bovery can\u2019t sue New Jersey for malicious prosecution and seizing his money, rules Appellate Superior Court.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-pool-operator-cant-sue-new-jersey-for-malicious-prosecution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Football Pool Operator Can\u2019t Sue New Jersey for Malicious Prosecution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Football pool operator John Bovery can\u2019t sue New Jersey for malicious prosecution and seizing his money, rules Appellate Superior Court.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-pool-operator-cant-sue-new-jersey-for-malicious-prosecution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-17T19:05:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-17T21:02:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bovery.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-pool-operator-cant-sue-new-jersey-for-malicious-prosecution\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-pool-operator-cant-sue-new-jersey-for-malicious-prosecution\/\",\"name\":\"Football Pool Operator Can\u2019t Sue New Jersey for Malicious Prosecution\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-pool-operator-cant-sue-new-jersey-for-malicious-prosecution\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-pool-operator-cant-sue-new-jersey-for-malicious-prosecution\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bovery.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-17T19:05:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-17T21:02:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Football pool operator John Bovery can\u2019t sue New Jersey for malicious prosecution and seizing his money, rules Appellate Superior Court.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-pool-operator-cant-sue-new-jersey-for-malicious-prosecution\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-pool-operator-cant-sue-new-jersey-for-malicious-prosecution\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-pool-operator-cant-sue-new-jersey-for-malicious-prosecution\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bovery.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bovery.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"John Bovery\u2019s office pool grew into a monster with thousands of paying customers across the world over a period of 15 years. 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