Minnesota Man Avoids Prison After Playing Casino Slots for TikTok Audience

Posted on: February 5, 2025, 05:25h. 

Last updated on: February 5, 2025, 09:47h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

A man was given probation this week after he improperly played slots for gamblers who watched the games on TikTok while they took place at a Minnesota casino.

Treasure Island Resort & Casino
Treasure Island Resort & Casino in Farmington, Minn., pictured above. A gambling scheme there involving TikTok resulted in Blake Fitzgerald of Farmington pleading guilty to charges of running a remote bookie business. (Image: Treasure Island Resort & Casino)

Blake C. Fitzgerald, 41, of Farmington, Minn. entered a guilty plea on Monday in Goodhue County District Court on charges of running a remote bookie business.

Fitzgerald was placed on supervised probation for two years and was fined $488.

Originally, Fitzgerald was charged with three counts of running an illegal gambling operation but he worked out a plea bargain with prosecutors. The original charges carried the potential of three years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines, according to Bring Me The News.

Gambling Took Place at Two Casinos

The slot machines are located at Treasure Island Resort & Casino in Farmington, Minn. A similar case involving Fitzgerald took place at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. He was given probation in that case, too.

Fitzgerald’s brother, Christopher J.L. Mattison, 35, pleaded guilty to a gambling charge, as well. He was given one year’s probation and fined $250. In a second case, Mattison was given two years’ probation.

81 Players Made Bets

Prosecutors claim the brothers set up bets for 81 players taking place over three weeks. The scheme involved more than $48K, according to the Star Tribune. One of the jackpots was worth more than $15K.

Fitzgerald was paid both a subscription fee and a portion of deposits. In exchange, he played slot machines at the two gaming properties as a proxy. He asked participants which slot they wanted him to play for them. Fitzgerald then made bets for the participants, prosecutors said.

They gave him a total of $65,103.50 in Venmo and CashApp payments between October and December 2022, prosecutors said. He called the payments “donations” or “deposits.”

“Defendant … collected $5.99 from each of his followers, which made them a ‘subscriber’ and allowed them to be part of the ‘discord’ (a private messaging group using the Discord application) and have Defendant place bets on their behalf until their subscription expired,” according to court documents quoted in the news report.

In total, the TikTok account used in the plot had 165K followers.

Both of the casinos ordered Fitzgerald to leave the gaming properties once the TikTok scheme came to light.