Blake Carl Fitzgerald is facing prison time for running illicit gambling activities. The 40-year-old man stands accused of using live streaming services, including seminal social media platform TikTok, to wager remotely on behalf of other individuals.

Gambling scheme

Between October and December 2022, Fitzgerald received $65,103 from customers through payment applications such as CashApp and Venmo, presumably for the discretion these platforms provide. 

He would then use these payments to play slot games at casinos while live-streaming his activities on TikTok. He would then share his winnings with his subscribers, using another popular application in the popular communication platform Discord, charging a fee of $5.99.

Fitzgerald is described as calling out a subscriber’s name during the stream, requesting a choice of machine from the member of his audience.

It was agreed that he would keep more than half of the winnings and would send his subscribers the rest.

It was stipulated that if he ran out of time to play he would return the funds to his subscribers.

Charges

Charges were then brought forth subsequent to a complaint sent to the Minnesota Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division anonymously. 

This then prompted an investigation which identified Fitzgerald who must now face 3 counts related to running an illegal gambling operation. 

There is speculation that he acted with an accomplice, however, they are yet to be formally charged and thus have not had their identity divulged. 

Fitzgerald himself is deemed to have been the “mastermind” behind this scheme and therefore risks up to 3 years of prison time accompanied by fines ranging in the hundreds and thousands. 

SiGMA Balkans/CIS

As a globally recognised nexus for networking, SiGMA Group sets its sights next to the Balkans this September, when the SIGMA Balkans/CIS Summit heads to Limassol Cyprus.

A host of networking opportunities and industry-leading knowledge will be emanating from the much-anticipated event which will pack panel discussions, keynote speeches, start-up pitches and much more into 3 days in the diverse Cypriot city.