A pickleball player from suburban Boca Raton is facing felony charges for his alleged role in running an illegal online sports gambling scheme.
Investigators took Devon Shalmi, 42, into custody Sept. 8 on charges of bookmaking, money laundering and operating a gambling house. His arrest followed a year-long undercover investigation by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office Organized Crime Task Force.
Shalmi's bond was set at $3 million, according to court records. His first court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 10. The county Public Defender's Office is representing him. As a policy, it does not comment on open cases.
Shalmi's arrest report alleges that he was engaged in
illegal bookmaking by accepting wagers for sports bets through an offshore sports betting website and acting as a "bookmaker/agent rather than a casual bettor." Investigators said a confidential informant tipped them to Shalmi in 2025.
Over 13 months, detectives conducted over 30 operations in which he allegedly provided accounts with credit lines ranging from $1,500 to $5,000. Those accounts allowed undercover officers to place wagers on a sports betting website, according to the arrest affidavit.
Detectives identified Shalmi as the administrator and operator of the website Allgames365.com, an illegal gambling website.
Investigators said Shalmi transferred the gambling payouts through online platforms including Zelle, Venmo and Cashapp. Detectives also traced transactions to ILSJSF Solutions, a Boca Raton company that received over $3 million in payments during the investigation.
Detectives also met Shalmi during cash exchanges. He often arrived wearing pickleball attire and met undercover officers at the Dixon Pickleball Club on Powerline Road in Deerfield Beach.
The arrest is not the first gambling-related charges filed against Shalmi.
In 2017, authorities charged him and seven other people with running an illegal sports gambling ring from 2013 to 2015. They said Shalmi used electronic betting accounts tied to offshore gambling websites to facilitate sport wagers. He later pleaded to money laundering and was sentences to five years of probation.
Valentina Palm covers immigration and breaking news for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Investigators: Pickleball player from Boca ran illegal betting ring
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