Popular poker streamer and YouTuber Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau has had a busy few weeks. The poker star recently claimed on social media that he had lost $600K in sports betting. $300K of that came via an agent of an unnamed sportsbook.
However, that relationship with the offshore sportsbook agent soon soured. Rampage’s lengthy social media posts claimed that when he went on an upswing of $30,000 – including successfully betting on Donald Trump’s recent election victory – the bookmaker stalled paying out.
The poker player even named the sportsbook agent as Neema Khazaie of California. But he fell short of naming the most likely illegal and offshore sportsbook that he gambled with. Rampage did, however, post an exchange of messages with the alleged bookie, including the agent offering him $30,000 towards the debt.
Some media outlets named the sportsbook as an offshore operation called Diamond Sports, but we couldn’t verify that claim.
“It’s truly an incredible business he runs, forces players to post money. Win money when bets lose and ALSO just takes all the funds from an original deposit as well. Just kissed it all goodbye,” Rampage wrote in his post.
“Beware of this and learn from my mistakes. At this point, I’m just scamming myself.”
The Betting and Accusations
The World Series of Poker bracelet winner and Hustler Casino Live high stakes regular said he started sports betting earlier in 2024.
He claimed he soon lost some $600K. In October, he decided to withdraw his remaining balance, which was around $80K. But then he says the bookmaker stopped communicating and the agent began stalling.
Also included in the post were screenshots of messages between Rampage and the agent.
Despite his suspicions and not getting his deposit back, Rampage went back for a final bet. He successfully wagered $50K on Donald Trump’s win in the recent presidential election at -220 odds, which he says makes his balance with the book $138,000.
The most recent message screenshot showed the agent promising Rampage $30k to $40K in the next week. No further updates have been posted.
Related Controversies
Rampage also went through another recent controversy in which he made what many at first thought was a heartfelt, open post about gambling and mental health, which then turned into a promo ad for the new Club World Poker Tour Global online poker site.
The post was not well-received, and was eventually deleted. But not before being saved and posted on the /r/Poker Reddit forum.
In other news about a gambler who bet big — much bigger, in fact — on the recent U.S. Presidential election, one French financial trader made $85 million betting on a Trump victory via cryptocurrency prediction betting site Polymarket.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
