Former Yomiuri Giants pitcher admits to betting illegally

Shoki Kasahara, a former pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants, has admitted to participating in illegal gambling.

The 25-year-old arrested in April on charges of placing wagers on 15 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Japanese high school games. Kasahara admitted to the charges during Monday’s hearing at the Tokyo District Court, Reuters reported.

The former professional baseball player allegedly helped Satoshi Saito, a former restaurant operator, with his betting scheme by collecting money from several former Giants players, including Satoshi Fukuda and Ryuya Matsumoto. Kasahara reportedly encouraged Kyosuke Takagi to bet on eight or nine games between April to May 2014, while he himself bet on between 10 and 20 professional and high school baseball games that year as well as played mahjong and golf for money.

Kasahara, Fukuda, and Matsumoto were banned indefinitely from playing after admitting to betting on games, while Takagi received a one-year ban—a relatively lighter sentence “due to the brief period of his involvement after cutting off ties with Kasahara,” according to Japanese media outlets.