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According to WAFB 9 – a news station in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, former LSU wide receiver and now second-year Patriots receiver Kayshon Boutte is in some hot water over gambling accusations.
WAFB reported that Boutte was arrested on Thursday on charges relating to illegal online gaming.
“Boutte turned himself in on charges of Computer Fraud, a felony, and a misdemeanor count of Gaming Prohibited for Persons under 21,” the report said. Boutte posted a $6,000 bond and was immediately released from the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
While under 21, Bouttee allegedly created a fake gaming account and placed close to 9,000 bets from April of 2022 to May of 2023. According to other various reports, 17 of the bets were made on college football games, with at least six of them on LSU games. The wagers and payouts reportedly amount to “several hundred thousand dollars.”
Boutte has denied ‘throwing’ games despite bets being placed while he was still a member of the LSU squad in 2022. The Tigers’ program released a statement on Thursday too.
“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. 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 content.”
While it’s possible Boutte eventually gets off relatively easy from the charges, the NFL may choose to make an example of him and suspend him for a significant amount of time. This could also change some plans the Patriots had when it comes to the draft (not the first round) with even more receiver help possibly being needed now if Boutte will miss time.