Indicted Gambler Wins Main Las Vegas Poker Occasion, Exposing Business Blind Spot
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Poker professional Gal Yifrach received the 2025 PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Las Vegas Essential Occasion on November 12. That wouldn’t be massive information besides that Yifrach is at the moment underneath federal indictment for working an unlawful playing enterprise and laundering its proceeds. His victory is reigniting concern concerning the poker world’s tolerance for legally entangled gamers.
Gal Yifrach performs within the annual Fortunate Hearts Poker Open at Seminole Laborious Rock Lodge & On line casino in Hollywood, Fla. in 2022. (Picture: Seminole Laborious Rock Lodge & On line casino)
Yifrach, 39, outlasted a subject of 738 entrants at Resorts World Las Vegas to assert $543,025, his largest profession rating. The win pushes his lifetime event earnings to 2.93 million. Nevertheless it additionally comes whereas he faces two felony costs stemming from a federal case first filed in 2022 and expanded in 2025.
The Accusations
Prosecutors allege that Yifrach helped run a video slot machine ring throughout California and laundered the proceeds by on line casino chip exchanges, actual property purchases and structured financial institution deposits.
The alleged playing operation reportedly started in 2018 — the identical 12 months Yifrach received a World Sequence of Poker bracelet in a $3,000 six-max occasion for $461,798. He added one other $495,305 with a third-place end in a $50,000 WSOP occasion in 2021.
Yifrach’s presence on high-stakes livestreams like “Stay on the Bike” and “Hustler On line casino Stay” made him a daily fixture in Southern California’s poker scene.
However the optics of an indicted gambler profitable a significant televised event have stirred unease. The poker group has lengthy struggled with how — or whether or not — to police gamers going through legal costs.
In contrast to skilled sports activities leagues, poker lacks a centralized governing physique with disciplinary authority. Match organizers sometimes defer to authorized outcomes, which means gamers underneath indictment or investigation are free to compete until convicted or banned by venue coverage.
Not the First
As you’ll be able to see by the desk beneath, this isn’t the primary time in latest reminiscence {that a} participant underneath indictment has competed in a significant poker event.
Participant
Authorized Standing
Match Winnings
Further Notes
Daniel Blieden
Indicted in October 2018 for wire fraud and embezzlement; pleaded responsible in November 2019; sentenced in 2021
Earned cash in a 2019 WSOP occasion (precise quantity not disclosed); additionally completed seventeenth in a 2019 partypoker event in Las Vegas, profitable $35,000
Continued taking part in in tournaments after being charged; admitted to utilizing stolen funds to pay entry charges. Sentenced to six.5 years in jail.
Anthony Marsico
Indicted in February 2025 for insider buying and selling
Competed within the 2025 WSOP Essential Occasion and made it by a number of days however didn’t win cash; earned smaller payouts in different mid-level tournaments that 12 months
Continued WSOP/WPT play post-indictment. Authorized case nonetheless in progress.
George Janssen
Pleaded responsible in August 2025 to monetary fraud; awaiting sentencing in December 2025
Received a Mid-States Poker Tour occasion in October 2025 (prize quantity not disclosed); additionally received $3,051 in one other event that August
Received a event after admitting guilt however earlier than sentencing. Has received 4 championship rings in smaller poker circuits.
The Yifrach case is totally different in scope and severity, nevertheless. He faces as much as 20 years in jail and $500,000 in fines if convicted. A superseding indictment filed in January 2025 alleges that his unlawful playing operation continued for 16 months after the unique costs have been filed — elevating questions on how event winnings and buy-ins might have intersected with illicit funds by July 2023.
To this point, PokerStars (which owns and operates NAPT) has not commented on Yifrach’s eligibility or whether or not future NAPT occasions will implement vetting protocols.
Business insiders say the decentralized nature of poker makes enforcement troublesome. Casinos and excursions can bar gamers at their discretion, however there’s no common blacklist or ethics committee. Some have referred to as for a registry of banned or indicted gamers, however authorized and privateness considerations have stalled progress.
For now, Yifrach stays free on bail and continues to compete. His victory underscores a persistent pressure in poker: the sport’s openness to all comers — together with those that commerce on an outlaw picture — versus its need for legitimacy in an period of rising scrutiny.
