Minnesota Brothers Sentenced For Playing Slots For TikTok Fans

A man has been sentenced to probation for improperly playing slots for his viewers on TikTok at two Minnesota casinos. These were at brick-and-mortar locations, not online or sweepstakes casinos. 

Blake C. Fitzgerald, a 41-year-old from Farmington, Minnesota, entered a plea of guilty on Monday in Goodhue County District Court. He was charged with running a remote bookie business. 

This comes after two men out West were charged in a multi-million dollar fake casino Ponzi scheme. 

More Details of the Charges and Sentence

Fitzgerald’s sentence included a supervised probation for two years, and he was fined $488. 

He was originally charged with three counts of running an illegal gambling operation. However, he worked out a plea bargain with prosecutors. 

If the original charges proceeded, they could've resulted in three years in prison and thousands in fines. 

The TikTok Gambling Happened in Two Places

Fitzgerald performed the transactions for people at Treasure Island Resort & Casino in Farmington, MN, and Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, MN. 

Not only was his Fitzgerald charged, but his brother, Christopher J.L. Mattison, 35, pled guilty to a gambling-related charge, too. 

He was given a year probation and fined $250. In a separate case, he was given two years of probation. 

Almost 100 Players Bet

According to prosecutors, the brothers arranged and set up bets for 81 players over three weeks. This scheme involved nearly $50k with a jackpot worth more than $15k. 

Fitzgerald was paid a subscription fee and a portion of deposits. He played slots as a proxy, asking the person what slots they wanted him to play. 

Fitzgerald was given $65,103.50 via CashApp and Venmo payment between October and December 2022. 

“Defendant … collected $5.99 from each of his followers, which made them a ‘subscriber’ and allowed them to be part of the ‘discord’ (a private messaging group using the Discord application) and have Defendant place bets on their behalf until their subscription expired,” according to court documents.

His TikTok account had 165k followers. When it was discovered what he was doing, he was ordered to leave each property.