Walters manages to get the best of any deal

The Billy Walters Redemption and Revenge Tour skipped a beat this week, but don’t expect it to sideline the sports betting king and controversial developer.

Those who have followed his tumultuous life know Walters almost always manages to get the best of any deal. From NFL games and golf matches to suspiciously friendly land deals from his friends in Nevada government, the 77-year-old rarely misses a trick.

That was certainly the case when he scored a 99-year lease with laughably flexible terms on prime Bureau of Land Management real estate and transformed it into the Strip’s sparkling Bali Hai Golf Course. Thanks to the somnambulant BLM and his pals at the Clark County Government Center, Walters managed to avoid paying proper rent on the lease for years. All protests aside, the county appeared in no hurry to play angry landlord with the generous donor to political campaigns high and low.

The deal did, however, draw the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice, which has been trying to collect back rent that with interest totaled more than $75 million. The prolonged dustup neared its end Tuesday when the county commission voted to approve a DOJ settlement calling for the county to pay $10 million and Walters’ Nevada Links Inc., to add another $1.5 million with neither party admitting liability.

Save for a newspaper headline or two, Walters’ redemption and revenge campaign continued apace. In recent months, he’s made more positive headlines for generous donations to everything from Opportunity Village to Hope for Prisoners.

The rent dispute fades in importance compared to other sweetheart deals and zoning miracles Walters has managed to score from his friends in government. I’d chide the officials for their lack of embarrassment, but as a general rule Nevada politicians don’t blush easily.

At a time when legalized sports betting is sweeping the nation, Walters is widely celebrated as every bookmaker’s worst nightmare and the consummate gambling wise guy. Wearing a tux and bowtie, the man known as the brain of the infamous Computer Group recently took his place among 10 inductees in the new Sports Gambling Hall of Fame inside the sports book at Circa Resort & Casino in downtown Las Vegas.

His wardrobe also includes pinstripes. Walters’ wide world of sports betting and dealmaking took a major hit in 2017 when he was found guilty of 10 charges in a federal insider trading case involving Dean Foods stock and sentenced to five years in prison. He cried foul, accused Preet Bharara, then U.S. Attorney of New York’s Southern District, of lying and covering up FBI leaks to the press, then reported to the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Florida. His stature has grown over time even as he did time.

In typical Walters fashion, he found a way to get the best of a bad beat. He won an early release in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, then had his sentence commuted in 2021 in the final days of the Trump administration. I hear his money was on a full pardon.

For some intriguing reason, Walters never received his pardon. I strongly suspect he feels snubbed. Something tells me we haven’t heard the last of this.

Since then, Walters has padded his philanthropy, made multiple public appearances, felt the embrace of elements of the gaming industry that once shunned him and produced a soon-to-be-released book Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Riskthat celebrates his rags-to-riches story and savages his enemies, especially former golfing pal and PGA gambling addict, Phil Mickelson.

Mickelson has made a fortune playing golf, but according to Walters has spent much of it betting — and poorly at that. Back when they were besties, Mickelson also benefited from, but was not criminally charged in, the insider trading scheme that sent Walters to prison. Instead, Mickelson was allowed to return the ill-gotten gains.

Walters argues that Mickelson could have helped his case by testifying on his behalf at trial. Mickelson declined, and Walters is not about to let him forget it. The sports press continues to buzz about Walters’ belief that Mickelson could have kept him out of prison, and now Walters has been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The hard-to-stomach Mickelson is no match for the hard-to-beat Walters, a man capable of making a “60 Minutes” crew look like fanboys and keeping a straight face while telling an interviewer in 1999 he is merely a “serious recreational bettor, and I have been fairly successful over the years.”

Billy Walters may enjoy many forms of recreation, but the way he bets doesn’t fall into that category.

If some current and former Nevada elected officials are truly lucky, Walters will decide not to write his political memoir.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR.