Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani publicly addressed the gambling scandal involving his ex-intepreter Ippei Mizuhara, where he said he has never placed a sports bet and Mizuhara’s story about paying off his $4.5 million gambling debt is entirely fabricated.
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports, or never have asked somebody to do that on my behalf,” Ohtani said through a new English-Japanese interpreter prior to the Dodgers’ final spring training game on Monday. “And never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.”
Ohtani is still trying to find his emotions after learning about the scandal.
“To summarize how I’m feeling right now, I’m just beyond shocked. It’s really hard to verbalize how I’m feeling at this point. The season’s going to start, so I’m going to obviously let my lawyers handle matters from here on out, and I’m completely assisting in all investigations that are taking place right now.”
This is a developing story. More to come…