Jail Time and Fines Expected for Illegal Gambling Duo in Kansas

When you are earning upwards of $2000 per day running illegal sportsbetting and high-stakes poker games, the three letters FBI are not what you want to hear knocking at your door – but that’s exactly the fate which befell two Kansas-based poker players, the pair now facing up to 5 years jail time and $250,000 in fines.

Wichita duo 67-year old Danny Chapman and 46-year old Daven Flax were indicted on a number of charges, Chapman pleading guilty this week to running a high stakes sports betting ring, as well as one count of tax evasion, while Flax admitted to two counts of operating an illegal gambling ring and one count of making a false statement on a tax return.

According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, the names of Chapman and Flax ‘surfaced in letters from the U.S. Department of Justice’ which showed that their telephone calls were intercepted in a 2015 investigation – the FBI wiretaps also including the phones of former Republican state senator Michael O’Donnell, now Sedgwick County Commissioner as well as well-known poker pro Brandon Steven and his brother Rodney.

U.S. attorney for Kansas, Tom Beall, stated that Chapman had used online e gambling sites in Costa Rica to run his sportsbooks, hiding his illegal earnings by buying cars using cash and registering them in others’ names, as well as purchasing cashier’s checks and money orders under the names of various family members – the bookie avoiding $345,000 in tax payments over a 4 year period.

In the case of Flax, the 46-year old confessed to running ‘invitation-only poker games’ for which he was responsible for paying the dealers, caterers and waitresses working them. His illegal tax avoidance amounted to $65,000. Chapman had $1.5million seized by the FBI in connection with the illegal poker room.

Brandon Stevens, a well-known name in the poker world who has $3,196,690 in recorded tournament winnings six 6-figure scores including a $648,000 an October 2016 High Roller victory at the Aria, admitted back in February that he was being investigated by the FBI.

Stevens stated at the time to Kansas.com:

“I’m aware of the broad nature of this inquiry. As you know and everybody knows, I play high-stakes poker. And from what we understand, they are looking into my poker and my involvement with Castle Rock Casino.”

On his Twitter page he describes himself as ‘Father 1st, Entrepreneur 2nd, 9 Car Dealerships, 2 Pro Hockey Teams(ECHL), 44 Health Clubs, Real Estate Dev, oh & part time poker’. With a team of Wichita investors he made an unsuccessful bid to build the Castle Rock Casino in southeast Kansas and added on the wiretapping matter:

“I’ve retained counsel, and we’re going to fully cooperate with this matter.”

Besides Chapman and Flax’s guilty pleas, no action appears to have been taken against Steven, his brother nor O’Donnell.