Sixth defendant pleads guilty in gambling case that involved Casey Urlacher

Yet another defendant in the multimillion-dollar sports gambling case that led earlier this year to a pardon of Mettawa Mayor Casey Urlacher by then-President Donald Trump has pleaded guilty in federal court.

Matthew Namoff, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct an illegal gambling business. In doing so, he became the sixth of 10 original defendants in the case to plead guilty and the fifth since Trump pardoned Urlacher, the brother of Chicago Bears great Brian Urlacher.

Namoff faces a likely sentence of six months to a year in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 23.

Chicago Police Officer Nicholas Stella pleaded guilty in the case earlier this week. A police spokesperson said at the time that Stella’s status with the department was “inactive.”

Meanwhile, Casey Urlacher ran for reelection as a write-in candidate in Tuesday’s suburban elections. Online results showed Urlacher leading in that race Friday, but authorities had not declared a winner.

The February 2020 indictment filed in the case alleged that Vincent “Uncle Mick” DelGiudice recruited Namoff, Urlacher, Stella and others to work as agents in his multimillion-dollar gambling ring. DelGiudice pleaded guilty in February, admitting he ran the ring around Chicago from 2016 until 2019.

The indictment alleged that Namoff called DelGiudice on Dec. 17, 2018, to discuss problems with DelGiudice’s gambling website. It also alleged that, on Jan. 19, 2019, Namoff and DelGiudice discussed collecting money from a gambler. DelGiudice told Namoff to say that he was “with Mr. DelGiudice,” it said.

Namoff also called DelGiudice on Jan. 28, 2019, to discuss a new gambler who wanted to place large bets with Namoff, according to the indictment.