Youngest person in the circle

U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall has sentenced Matthew Namoff, 25, to just six months of home confinement for his involvement in running Vincent “Uncle Mick” DelGiudice’s international gambling ring. He is the youngest person to be linked with the Chicago-based illegal betting operation.

could have faced six months to a year in prison

At his sentencing hearing in Chicago on September 28, Judge Kendall also ordered Namoff to pay a fine of $10,000. The defendant, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct an illegal gambling business in April 2021, could have faced six months to a year in prison. He becomes the fifth person connected with DelGiudice’s ring to avoid prison time.

Namoff, whom the feds accused of running a “significant bookmaking operation” at Illinois State University (ISU), became the sixth defendant to plead guilty.

The same sports betting case previously revealed links to the Trump-pardoned Casey Urlacher. Defense attorney Darryl Goldberg, in fact, used Mettawa Mayor Urlacher as an example of how Namoff “pales in comparison” with other figures charged in connection to the multimillion-dollar gambling ring.

Feds paint a different picture

Attorney Goldberg “fundamentally” disagreed with the federal prosecutors’ characterization of Namoff, which described how DelGiudice groomed him and accorded him equal partner status within his larger online gambling ring.

Prosecutors also said that Namoff managed 60 gamblers at ISU. They posited that DelGiudice saw this as a business opportunity, as the student bettors would eventually move into employment and increase their wagers.

not small bets in a dorm room over beer”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Kinney’s court memo reflects the hardline stance on Namoff, stating: “These were not small bets in a dorm room over beer.”

Goldberg had noted in his memo that Namoff’s ISU operation started off as “$1 to $3 wagers on a sporting event over a beer.” The defense attorney said bettors wagered such small sums on average that the minimum stake was $5. He wrote that this was “clearly on the smallest scale of all charged in this case.”

Relief for contrite Namoff

According to the Chicago Sun Times, Namoff made sure Judge Kendall saw that he appreciated the error of his ways before she sentenced him. Apologizing to her, the defendant said he “stupidly saw gambling as a way to socialize in college”, adding that he now understands it was “not a victimless crime.”

You’ll never see me again”

Kinney, however, wasn’t having it. He suggested that Judge Kendall should give Namoff no credit for taking responsibility for his crime. Namoff, however, seems done with breaking the law. “You’ll never see me again,” he told Kendall.