Walters co-defendant enters not-guilty plea

Bill Gang

Thursday, Nov. 19, 1998 | 11:24 a.m.

Computer expert Daniel Pray, a third defendant in the alleged multimillion- dollar illegal sports betting operation involving gambler and golf course entrepreneur Billy Walters, has pleaded not guilty to felony charges.

Pray was ordered Wednesday to stand trial along with Walters and Jimmie Jay Hanley on June 7 in District Judge Donald Mosley's courtroom, although attorneys for the defendants have vowed to file motions to dismiss the charges.

The Oct. 16 money laundering indictment of the trio and New Yorker John Tognino alleges the betting operation funneled money and information to and from illegal bookmakers across the country and internationally. Tognino has not yet been brought to Nevada to face charges.

The cash proceeds in the operation were held in casino safe-deposit boxes rather than banks, and a variety of people used a variety of names to place and collect bets on a daily basis using Walters' money, court documents stated.

Banks of phones at Walters' Sierra Sports Inc. were staffed by employees who used code names to access the nationwide network of illegal bookmakers in addition to legal sports books in Nevada between December 1995 and December 1996, the indictment said.

The charges do not allege that Walters or the others were illegally taking bets but claim that betting with illegal bookies, primarily in New York, and bringing the proceeds to Nevada is itself illegal.

The proceeds went in and out of a safe-deposit box at Binion's Horseshoe hotel-casino that was in Hanley's name but disbursed at Walters' direction, the indictment charged.

Much of the operation was conducted from an office complex at 3200 Polaris Ave., where 52 telephone lines had been installed to place wagers at Walters' direction to illegal bookies in various state and countries that included Canada, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Netherlands Antilles and Costa Rica.

The phone bill for October 1996 showed more than 10,000 long distance calls.

"According to the accounts of this business, Walters had approximately $6.7 million involved in his business of wagering with various illegal bookmakers as of Nov. 17, 1996," the indictment states.