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A rookie National Football League (NFL) player was arrested on Thursday (January 25) on charges that he used an alias account to place thousands of wagers while underage, including bets on his college team.
Kayshon Boutte, 21, a wide receiver for the New England Patriots, was booked on a felony charge of computer fraud and a misdemeanor charge of gaming prohibited for persons under the age of 21, according to the Louisiana State Police.
An arrest warrant was signed on January 18 after police alleged that Boutte placed more than 8,900 wagers between April 2022 and May 2023, when he was only 20 years old. That would equate to more than 22 bets per day over the 13-month stretch.
According to a statement from police, Boutte used an alias to place the wagers, with at least 17 of the wagers being placed on NCAA football games while he was an active player on the Louisiana State University (LSU) football team, and at least six of them being placed on the LSU team itself.
Two of the LSU bets, according to an arrest warrant obtained by local television station WAFB, were player proposition bets on Boutte himself for a September 2022 game.
The arrest warrant also indicates that more than $132,000 in deposits were made to the alias account, and more than $637,000 was wagered. In addition, the payment info on the alias account, a credit card registered to Boutte’s mother, is identical to the info on an account Boutte opened in his own name in Massachusetts in June 2023.
While the alias account was registered to a Kayla Fortenberry, the username on the account was “kayshonboutte01.” The username on his own registered account is “kayshonboutte7,” according to the affidavit.
The investigation by Louisiana State Police began in July 2023 when its gaming enforcement division was contacted by FanDuel regarding the accounts and wagers.
“In July 2023, LSU was made aware of allegations regarding a former student-athlete’s improper conduct related to sports gambling while enrolled at the university,” LSU said in a statement. “Since then, we have fully cooperated with all relevant authorities involved in the investigation and will continue to do so.”
“We have no evidence that any other student-athletes participated in these prohibited activities, and we are grateful for measures that detect and discourage sports gambling related misconduct,” LSU said.
The charges did not include any indication of sports integrity-related violations, although police said that the investigation remains ongoing and additional charges could be filed.
The New England Patriots said it was “aware that Kayshon Boutte is cooperating with Louisiana police regarding their investigation into an underage gambling charge” but declined to comment further. The receiver played in five games for the Patriots during his rookie season after being selected in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Boutte is the second NFL player to face criminal charges relating to sports betting since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in May 2018.
In August, Denver Broncos defensive end Eyioma Uwazurike was charged with tampering with records for using an alias to place wagers, including on NFL games.
The NFL also suspended ten players in 2023, including Uwazurike, for gambling-related offenses. The league declined to comment on the charges filed against Boutte.
