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Court records have revealed that a key witness has been arrested in the high-profile illicit gambling case involving Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez.
Krishna Kumar Deokaran was apprehended on October 6 by Lake County officers to face a charge of money laundering.
The 50-year-old is alleged to have committed the acts between January and May 2024 across three Florida counties.
No further specifics have been divulged, but it is a notable update as Deokaran is one of the key witnesses in the overall case against the suspended Sheriff Marcos Lopez.
His involvement and status could directly impact the broader case against the Sheriff.
Lopez was arrested on June 4, as part of racketeering charges, after being accused of using his position to protect a massive illegal gambling operation that prosecutors say raked in over $21.6 million in dirty money.
Crucially, Deokaran was not arrested at that time, having been described in court documents as “an unindicted co-conspirator,” with prosecutors setting out that he owned and operated many of the illegal gaming rooms involved in the gambling enterprise.
Lopez’s estranged wife, Robin Lynn Severance Lopez, has now been arrested for a second time during the investigation, with the latest offense relating to bond issues.

Alleged gambling ringleader for Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez faces money laundering charge https://t.co/TJyBricoHU
— WFTV Channel 9 (@WFTV) October 28, 2025

Deokaran was “the man at the helm” of Lopez gambling operation
The activity was focused around “internet cafes” or social clubs, like The Eclipse and Fusion Social Club, that functioned as illegal casinos with slot machines and lottery games.
Following the charge made earlier this month by the Florida Office of Statewide Prosecution, Deokaran pleaded not guilty and posted a $20,000 bond, but his attorney, Dan Eckhart, has refused to comment.
In the lengthy 255-page affidavit filed in the case, as seen by ReadWrite, Deokaran was described as the man “who stood at the helm” of the gambling ring, which is thought to have made more than £21 million in its operations across Lake, Marion, Sumter, and Osceola counties in Florida.
The affidavit also detailed that Deokaran admitted to paying Lopez between $600,000 and $700,000 in gambling proceeds since 2020 to secure protection and expand the business into Osceola County.
During this arrangement, Sheriff Marcos Lopez is said to have upgraded his home and vehicle.
 
Image credit: WFTV/X
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Since Tuesday (October 28), five class action lawsuits have been launched against various operators of online sweepstakes casinos.
As detailed by betting and gaming lawyer Daniel Wallach, the entities facing the cases as defendants are:
FSG / Schorr (Utah)
The class action lawsuit filed in a federal court in Utah accuses FSG Digital and its co-founder, Seth Schorr, of running an illegal online sweepstakes casino called “JefeBet.” Under Utah law, people who lost money through this kind of operation can try to recover twice the amount of their financial losses.

5 class action lawsuits against the operators of online sweepstakes casino websites were filed within the last 48 hours. The defendants:
1) FSG/Schorr (Utah)
2) High 5 Games (Ohio)
3) Stake/Drake (Missouri)
4) Yellow Social Interactive/Pulsz (Utah)
5) Money Factory (Utah) pic.twitter.com/kTuxdWGOVi
— Daniel Wallach (@WALLACHLEGAL) October 29, 2025

The complaint states: “While Defendants advertise and promote the FSG Gambling Platform to persons in Utah as a legitimate online business, giving it an aura of legitimacy and legality to Plaintiff and Class members, the FSG Gambling Platform is actually a dangerous and plainly unlawful gambling enterprise.”
High 5 Games (Ohio)
Another class action suit was brought by Daryl Simonich on behalf of others against High 5 Games, LLC, in Ohio.
The plaintiff wants to recover the money that Ohio residents lost while playing High 5’s alleged illegal online gambling games. In the document, they are seeking “a ruling that High 5’s games violate federal law, and that High 5’s online terms of service set out the terms and conditions under which the illegal gambling is conducted are therefore unenforceable in a federal court.”
Yellow Social Interactive/Pulsz (Utah)
The plaintiff, Bailey Gardner, is suing Yellow Social Interactive Ltd. and YSI US, Inc. on behalf of herself and other individuals in a similar situation in Utah.
Money Factory (Utah)
Similarly, Nathan Walker has filed suit against The Money Factory LLC on behalf of himself and a group of similarly affected people in the same state. The complaint includes a demand for a jury trial.
The five class action lawsuits are generally of the same kind, alleging that the respective platforms are disguising illicit real-money gambling as legal, regulated ‘sweepstakes’ games.
As seen above, the case in Ohio has been brought against High 5 Games by the Plaintiff, Simonich.
The resident of Stark County is seeking redress and recovery of illegal gambling losses on behalf of himself and other Ohio residents due to the description in the official document that “High 5’s Games violate federal law” and the terms under which the gambling activity is “unenforceable in a federal court”.
The three cases in Utah follow the same themes, as does the one in Missouri, which carries even more weight due to the prominence of the individuals connected to the case.
Stake/Drake (Missouri)
A class action lawsuit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court claimed that online gambling site Stake.us, influencer Adin Ross, and Canadian rapper Drake were running an illegal online casino aimed at people in Missouri.
Now, Drake faces a second lawsuit this week, after a new class action case was filed in the Second Judicial District Court of New Mexico.
The fresh suit alleges that Sweepstakes Limited “conducts online casino gambling in open violation of New Mexico state gaming and consumer protection laws.”
It further asserts that the Stake.us platform is “a virtual clone of Stake.com,” with misleading branding to give users the impression of harmless gameplay instead of an illicit gambling setting.
Adin Ross has publicly reacted to the claims with a curt, direct response on a recent livestream:
“Read through the case yourself. It’s f**ing bullsh*t,” he blasted.
Featured image: Canva
The post Five class action lawsuits filed against online sweepstakes casinos in 48 hours appeared first on ReadWrite.

Emmanuel Clase’s agent has said he isn’t concerned, whilst the Cleveland Guardians pitcher is in the middle of a gambling investigation. It comes after an investigation reportedly found “irrefutable” evidence of gambling, which led MLB insider Héctor Gómez to say that Clase’s career was essentially over.
Clase was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave back in July while the Major League Baseball (MLB) said it was continuing a sports betting investigation. The starter Luis Ortiz was also placed on paid leave at the same time. This was initially to be until the end of August, but has since been extended
The publisher Cleveland.com reports that Kelvin Nova, the athlete’s agent, said: “He told me he doesn’t bet.
“He’s just waiting right now for MLB to make a decision. He’s practicing in the Dominican Republic right now.”
Is Emmanuel Clase still on leave from the MLB?
On September 1, the MLB chiefs made the decision for Clase to stay on leave “until further notice.” The league also said they wouldn’t comment further until the investigation has been completed. With this ongoing, the Guardians team has been without one of its young talents for several months now.
It’s not yet known at what stage the investigation is up to or how long the process will last. When on leave, players are permitted contact with the organization but they are not allowed to access the team’s facilities.
At the time, the Guardians released a statement which explained the situation: “The Guardians have been notified by Major League Baseball that as part of their sports betting investigation Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave per an agreement with the Players Association.
“We have been informed that no additional players or Club personnel are expected to be impacted. The Guardians are not permitted to comment further at this time and will respect the league’s confidential investigative process as we continue to fully cooperate.”
This comes after the league suspended five players for gambling over a year ago now. All of them have since been reinstated to the MLB, including Athletics reliever Michael Kelly, Arizona’s Andrew Saalfrank, Philadelphia infielder José Rodríguez, and San Diego starter Jay Groome.
The league isn’t the only to be running a gambling-related investigation, with two stars from the NBA having been arrested for separate alleged cases.

Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0

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