{"id":172297,"date":"2021-04-30T15:56:35","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T22:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud\/"},"modified":"2021-04-30T16:31:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T23:31:42","slug":"rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Gorodetsky, \u2018Future Face of Sports Gambling,\u2019 Gets 28 Months for Wire Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sports bettor Rob Gorodetsky<\/a>, whose brash, showy Instagram persona<\/a> once got him featured in USA Today<\/em> as the \u201cfuture face of sports gambling,\u201d was sentenced to 28 months in prison Thursday for wire fraud.<\/p>\n

\"Rob
Rob Gorodetsky photographed in 2017 for the USA Today<\/em> profile that led to his arrest. (Image: Jason Ogulnik\/USA Today<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 2017 USA Today<\/em> profile described Gorodetsky as one of the \u201cmost compelling and controversial\u201d figures in sports. He hung out with celebrities and beautiful women, the newspaper explained. He drove fast cars, while \u201cwinning and losing millions of dollars\u201d in what he called \u201cBigRobStyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a federal court in Chicago heard during his trial that this persona was largely the invention of a once painfully shy kid from the city\u2019s affluent North Shore suburbs.<\/p>\n

Living Meme<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to his lawyers, Gorodetsky moved to Las Vegas to reinvent himself, whereupon he transformed into a \u201cliving meme.\u201d Defense lawyer Chris Gair argued \u201cBigRobStyle\u201d was living a lie. And Gorodetsky\u2019s sports betting prowess was a lie, too.<\/p>\n

The USA Today<\/em> profile caught the attention of the FBI and the Nevada Gaming Commission, which launched investigations into Gorodetsky. In January 2020, the FBI charged him with bilking a single investor out of $9.6 million between 2014 and 2018.<\/p>\n

The victim is described in court documents as a successful New Jersey ophthalmologist who is the father of Gorodetsky\u2019s ex-girlfriend.<\/p>\n

\n

Gorodetsky had promised to reinvest the money in sports betting and other ventures. But according to prosecutors, he reinvested a nominal amount, but spent more than $2.2 million on travel, entertainment, a Rolls Royce, a Bentley, two Lamborghinis, and $324,000 worth of jewelry.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

One-Track Mind<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In a recent court filing, Gair described his client as a “pathological gambler” who was suspended from his high school for setting up a \u201cgambling hall\u201d and taking his classmates\u2019 money at poker games.<\/p>\n

According to Gair, throughout the fraud, Gorodetsky \u201ccould only concentrate on one thing: the rush he felt from his gambling wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gorodetsky spent $1 million gambling in the week USA Today<\/em> shadowed him for the 2017 profile. Back then, there was talk that the federal ban on sports betting might soon be lifted in America. If that were to happen, as it did a year later, Gorodetsky would go on to be \u201cAmerica\u2019s leading sports bettor,\u201d according to his hangers-on.<\/p>\n

When it goes legal, we\u2019re going to be billionaires,\u2019\u2019 one told USA Today.<\/em> \u201cWe\u2019re the No. 1 entity, and we\u2019re going to have a market share of at least 5 percent of a $150 billion industry.\u2019\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Before he was sentenced, Gorodetsky apologized to his victim.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are very young,\u201d said US District Judge Elaine Bucklo. \u201cBut it\u2019s just a massive, massive fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bucklo sent Gorodetsky to prison and ordered him to repay $7.2 million in outstanding losses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sports bettor Rob Gorodetsky, whose brash, showy Instagram persona once got him featured in USA Today as the \u201cfuture face of sports gambling,\u201d was sentenced to 28 months in prison Thursday for wire fraud. The 2017 USA Today profile described Gorodetsky as one of the \u201cmost compelling and controversial\u201d figures in sports. He hung out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":172298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRob Gorodetsky Gets 28 Months in Prison for Wire Fraud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rob Gorodetsky, fake sports betting guru, sentenced to 28 Months in prison for wire fraud for bilking girlfriend's dad out fo almost $10 M.\" \/>\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\/rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rob Gorodetsky Gets 28 Months in Prison for Wire Fraud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rob Gorodetsky, fake sports betting guru, sentenced to 28 Months in prison for wire fraud for bilking girlfriend's dad out fo almost $10 M.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud\/\" \/>\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=\"2021-04-30T22:56:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-30T23:31:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rob-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\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\/rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud\/\",\"name\":\"Rob Gorodetsky Gets 28 Months in Prison for Wire Fraud\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rob-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-30T22:56:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-30T23:31:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Rob Gorodetsky, fake sports betting guru, sentenced to 28 Months in prison for wire fraud for bilking girlfriend's dad out fo almost $10 M.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rob-gorodetsky-gets-28-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rob-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rob-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440,\"caption\":\"Rob Gorodetsky photographed in 2017 for the USA Today profile that led to his arrest. 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