Billy Walters, who owns Bali Hai Golf Club on the Las Vegas Strip, has released an excerpt from Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk, and it details his gambling relationship and other ties with major champion Phil Mickelson. And also answers directly the question as to how Mickelson didn’t come to his defense during Walters’ insider trading trial. –By Brian Hurlburt, founder, www.lasvegasgolfinsider.com
The excerpt was released on FirePitCollective.com with the most poignant part of it coming near the end.:
A number of people in the media, on Twitter, and in the golf world have suggested that Phil ratted me out on insider trading charges. That is not what happened.
What happened was much worse.
Phil Mickelson, one of the most famous people in the world and a man I once considered a friend, refused to tell a simple truth that he shared with the FBI and could have kept me out of prison. I never told him I had inside information about stocks and he knows it. All Phil had to do was publicly say it. He refused.
The outcome cost me my freedom, tens of millions of dollars and a heartbreak I still struggle with daily. While I was in prison, my daughter committed suicide – I still believe I could have saved her if I’d been on the outside.
The excerpt also reveals how Walters alleges Mickelson incurred $100 million in gambling losses and backs it up with details receipt tracking from two sources.
The book can be pre-ordered here. Release date is Aug. 22.
Bali Hai Golf Club is a tropical 18-hole golf experience in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip and features a new sports bar, hundreds of palm trees and lagoon-like water features.
Walters is a member of the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame and will be inducted into the Circa Sports Gambling Hall of Fame Aug. 11.