Exclusive | Disgraced California lawmaker caught making NFL bets in emails with dive bar
Are you ready for some football? Odds are Heath Flora is.The embattled California Republican legislator — who is the focus of two state ethics investigations and was recently ousted as GOP minority leader of the state Assembly — appears to have broken the law by participating in a high-dollar NFL survivor pool run through a Sacramento dive bar, according to interviews and records obtained by the California Post.Emails show Flora was making NFL picks in 2021 from a personal email address but the messages included his title as a state Assemblymember, as well as his work address and phone numbers for his Capitol and district offices.A former bartender and manager for bar Club 2 Me confirmed that Flora participated in an NFL survivor pool with a $50 buy-in and about 100 people in the pool.An NFL survivor pool is a contest where players pick one team to win each week, can’t pick the same team twice, and are eliminated when their pick loses.The bar manager told The Post that the total payout by the end of the season could climb as high as $5,000.California law prohibits making or accepting wagers on the outcome of sporting events.
State law provides an exception for certain friendly betting pools, but caps the total value of prizes or winnings at $2,500.Bryan Sullivan, a partner at Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae LLP, told The Post that California law clearly bars elected officials from betting in an official capacity.“California law made it clear in 2021 — and it remains true today — that a legislator cannot use the prestige of their office to participate in private gambling activities,” Sullivan said in a statement. “Using an official title in an NFL survivor pool was improper then, and it is unequivocally improper now.”The emails obtained by The Post show Flora’s involvement in the betting pool stretched at least several weeks.On Aug.
9, 2021, Flora emailed the Club 2 Me account asking to be included.“JD told me to email you and make su...