Minority Owner Involved in Gambling Allegations

Posted by Jesse Rios on February 4th, 2008 filed in News

Enrique Javier Loya, the President and CEO of Choice Energy Services Retail and aLoya minority owner of the Houston Texans since 2002, is on the brink of major trouble with the NFL.  There are allegations against Loya by a former Choice employee that Loya, as well as Choice employees and customers, were involved in high stakes gambling. 

The gambling involves Fantasy Football Futures, a gambling entourage involving Loya, his employees and customers.  Loya denied or motioned off most claims two years ago, but the allegations are catching up to him and Choice Energy.  VP of Choice Energy, John Klosek, admitted under oath that Fantasy Football Futures has been discussed in Choice Energy and that Loya was involved in these discussions involving Futures, what Klosek calls the prediction of the outcome of the football season.

These charges have been brought to court, and now Loya is hanging on a string awaiting word from court and the NFL.  The Houston Texans franchise had no response to these allegations according to Fox 26 Houston.  

Loya responded to Fox 26 with a letter stating that his company employees had been involved in betting pools, but he finds nothing “inappropriate about this…”  On the other hand, the NFL has made it clear that “the league prohibits NFL club owners, coaches, players and anyone else involved with the NFL from gambling on NFL Games or associating in any way with persons involved in gambling.  Anyone who does so faces severe disciplinary action by the commissioner, including lifetime suspension.” 

Loya made the Texans and the NFL aware of these allegations as he knows the punishment for gambling in the NFL. 



22 Responses to “Minority Owner Involved in Gambling Allegations”

  1. bobbiewick Says:
    February 4th, 2008 at 9:08 pm

    Why isn’t the Houston Chronicle covering this?

  2. Nate Says:
    February 5th, 2008 at 9:00 am

    Oh please, all of this is brought about by a disgruntled hot head ex-exployee who apparently is trying to “get even” in some way. How wrong is puting a few dollars in a company football pool? Enough to try and ruin someones life? What a jerk.

  3. Nate Says:
    February 5th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

    Probably because of the character of the accuser - he is way lacking in credibility. This will come out as things progress, I’m sure. It’s rather sad. . .

  4. Jesse Says:
    February 5th, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    Yeah things are bound to come out after the Super Bowl and Spygate hangover die down. Yes and the accuser, Matturro, is lacking good or ideal character.

    I’ve been talking about it since the news broke and I feel bad for Loya, but the rules were stated by the NFL that you can’t gamble if you’re a part of the NFL. Sad thing is the NFL promotes Fantasy Football so much you’d think its excusable. More so, its sad how much the NFL sells Beer and doesn’t do anything for the drunken-soon-to-get-DWI fans who leave their stadiums.

  5. Dave Says:
    February 5th, 2008 at 3:16 pm

    Actually, if you watch the TV story, the accusatios are confirmed by Mr. Klosek–the current PRESIDENT of Loya’s company–not a disgruntled former employee. And while the attorneys in the deposition use the word “fantasy” football contracts, the word “fantasy” is actually a misnomer. It is nothing like fantasy football that millions of people participate in at the office. This is high-stakes wagering involving “futures contracts” valued at tens of thousands of dollars per person. And Mr. Klosek confirms that Mr. Loya participated in such activities. See the story here: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=3AD9E2004BC861CA79113F54DA4E505F?contentId=5668269&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

  6. Nate Says:
    February 5th, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    The thing is, this is not NEW news. I gotta wonder if this Matturro person started calling TV stations out of desparation to get some attention. I feel sure that nothing will come from his allegations, other than him making a fool out of himself.

    The energy business that is he is in, is somewhat small where everybody knows everybody else. I have a feeling that his attacks are going to come back and bite him big time.

  7. Nate Says:
    February 6th, 2008 at 6:26 am

    I’m on the sideline here Dave, but this Matturro fellow is the one that made the allegations. You might want to ask around re his reputation.

  8. Dave Says:
    February 6th, 2008 at 8:07 am

    I understand, Nate. The story would be lame without confirmation from a source who didn’t have an axe to grind. That’s what makes it so shocking to hear Mr. Loya’s CURRENT right-hand man say: “Yeah, Loya was involved. Yes, it was gambling.” No axe-grinding there. Comes from a happy current executive of the company. And if you watch the story again, Maturro was actually one of SIX people who filed the lawsuit making the gambling claims. Maturro is the only who hasn’t settled out of court yet.

  9. Jesse Says:
    February 6th, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    Only time will tell and Loya was involved in high stakes gambling. Gambling about the NFL alone is illegal when involved with the NFL. Loya’s on thin ice no matter the character of Matturro.

  10. justice Says:
    February 13th, 2008 at 11:32 pm

    Those guys are dirty they should get the book thrown at them. Hopefully the IRS will get involved as well.

  11. Jesse Says:
    February 16th, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    Chron.com Texans General, McClain reported:
    “The NFL is looking into this matter, and until we hear from the league, we’ll have no comment,” Texans vice president of communications Tony Wyllie said.

  12. noaxetogrind Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 11:30 am

    As a former employee, what goes around comes around - I loved working there personally - but it is a known fact to everyone in the industry (who knew Javier) that he was definitely into Fantasy Football along with anything at all that could be bet on with employees and his clients. There was no misalignment in what I have read so far. What was going on in the office is only a glimmer of what was going on in the industry. As far as throwing the book, karma will prevail in this situation. It only takes a few hard drives and DVD’s of recorded phone calls to deduce the allegations are correct.

  13. noaxetogrind Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 12:18 pm

    To Dave, The happy executive is not just an executive of Choice Energy, John Klosek is one of two partners of Choice Energy. Javier Loya is the other partner.

  14. rex Says:
    February 20th, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    For someone with “no ax to grind”, kinda sounds like you want to lead the witch hunt. . . are you saying that you made bets with him?

  15. Jesse Says:
    February 21st, 2008 at 10:51 am

    From Baker Field To The Houston Texans
    Elena Cabral, Columbia College Today –
    For everybody wanting to know more on Loya:

    http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/jan03/features3.php

    “‘Trading,’ says Loya, ‘is a lot like sports in that the players are judged by one score. Whether you are working for a huge hedge fund, whether it’s a small position, if you put the right position on, you either make money or lose money,’ Loya says. ‘For every winner there’s a loser; it’s a zero-sum game in a lot of ways. It’s very exciting.’”

  16. noaxetogrind Says:
    February 21st, 2008 at 5:47 pm

    To Rex: Unfortunately, I was not one of the big money makers nor was I a gambler. If I had been a gambler, I am not sure it would have been a good thing to gamble with him. He is very very shrewd when it comes to taking risks :-) No need for me to lead a witch hunt either. He is not a witch.

  17. diareah.com Says:
    March 12th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

    High pressured gambling is well know at Choice. Albeit brief, i knew 3 people who worked there over there with them at Choice and know the culture of gambling was intense and non committal to say a few things.
    Can you name the current top 3 producers there? I look forward to you answering this NOW

  18. noaxetogrind Says:
    March 13th, 2008 at 9:21 am

    Why would anyone need to know the top 3 producers there now? How exactly does the question pertain to the subject at hand?

  19. noaxetogrind Says:
    March 13th, 2008 at 9:31 am

    The top two producers from CHOICE were Javier and John Klosek for a number of years. Before that, it was Vinny and Paul along with Javier. After a few years, it became apparent that Paul (Sward) became the CEO and was later purchased out of the company by Javier. Javier then purchased Vinny’s shares at a later time. Javier did not found the company alone. It was a group of three men and only Javier remains as one of the original three. Javier then partnered with John after the other two men were purchased out of the company to ensure the two top producers stayed with the company.

  20. nate Says:
    March 13th, 2008 at 3:04 pm

    diareah, you sure have your panties in a wad. don’t know what you mean by intense and non-committal, seems like if one was intense, they’d also be committed. And as noaxetogrind says, your question doesn’t really pertain to the topic.

  21. diareah.com Says:
    March 14th, 2008 at 6:49 am

    Don’t understand why you asked if my comment was at anything to do at foot. I think it does how top producers affect the culture (throat) at the company and how the prevailing insipid inconsistencies were there.

    Let me know NOW

  22. eric Says:
    March 14th, 2008 at 4:55 pm

    diareah, you’re full of crap

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