Sports betting legend Billy Walters will reportedly be going home from prison soon. A Las Vegas TV journalist reported this week that he could be released early from prison.

What’s the premise of release?

Walters is a legendary sports bettor and a convicted felon. He was sentenced to five years in prison after he was convicted of wire fraud, conspiracy, and securities fraud in July 2017. The journalist said that he could be released from prison by the end of the week.

On Wednesday, many sports publications also ran similar stories and said that he would be out of the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Florida. This is the same facility where infamous NBA ref Tim Donaghy was once kept. Now Walters will be allowed to serve the rest of his sentence from his Carlsbad, California home.

The 73-year-old was supposed to be eligible for a home confinement order in January. This is partly because of his old age and also because he was not involved in violent crime. He has also completed more than half of his sentence already. There is no evidence that the Pensacola prison has been hit with the coronavirus. However, it is being reported that Walters old age and his demographic’s susceptibility to the virus is a key reason why he will be allowed to go home and stay in a more hospital environment.

Walters had a spectacular career

A well-known betting whale, Walters was one of the most prominent bettors in Nevada casinos as well as other international properties. In 2011, he was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile and his fame reached such heights that services would use his name to boost their profiles illegally.

He was convicted because he engaged in insider trading for a Fortune 500 company Dean Foods. The company’s chairman Thomas Davis was under a debt trap and owed more than $1 million to Walters. He used this information to his advantage to earn $32 million while avoiding losses of $11 million by trading on the information provided by Davis.

Phil Mickelson, a pro golfer, and betting enthusiast were also caught in the scheme but he was able to avoid prosecution by paying back the $1 million he earned in profits. Walters kept denying his guilt till the end and blamed Mickelson for his eventual conviction. He said that the golfer failed to testify for him because he was concerned with his endorsements.