Kayshon Boutte was once one of the most highly touted young wide receivers in college football after he burst onto the scene for LSU as a freshman, breaking the SEC record with 308 receiving yards against Ole Miss in 2020. However, Boutte never quite built on the promise of that season as hoped, and when he declared for the NFL Draft as a junior in 2023, he ended up as a sixth round pick of the New England Patriots.
Apparently over his last year at LSU, Boutte, who was not 21 yet, created an online betting account under a false alias and was an incredibly frequent bettor. On Thursday, Boutte was arrested by Louisiana State Police and booked in Baton Rouge on “one felony count of computer fraud and one misdemeanor count of gaming prohibited by persons under 21.” LSU released a statement regarding their cooperation with the investigation that eventually led to Boutte’s arrest, insisting no other players were involved in the gambling activities, via NOLA.com.
“In July 2023, LSU was made aware of allegations regarding a former student-athlete’s improper conduct related to sports gambling while enrolled at the University,” LSU said in a statement. “Since then, we have fully cooperated with all relevant authorities involved in the investigation and will continue to do so. We have no evidence that any other student-athletes participated in these prohibited activities, and we are grateful for measures that detect and discourage sports gambling related misconduct.”
The news release from the State Police says Boutte placed over 8,900 wagers, at least 17 of which were on NCAA football games and at least 6 of which were on LSU football from April 6, 2022 to May 7, 2023.
Betting on football games you were involved in is never a good idea, no matter what the bet was, but I’m more flabbergasted by the nearly 9,000 bets he placed in the span of just over a year. That is some wild gambling behavior and I cannot help but wonder what his win-loss rate was because that’s an incredible volume of bets. I mean, that is in the range of 25 bets per day for a full year, which is honestly hard to do. Boutte’s football career was already on the rocks after rarely seeing the field as a rookie with 2 catches for 19 yards, and this won’t help his cause trying to find footing in the NFL.
