Exploring the rise and fall of Owen Hanson

Many football fans and bettors alike are familiar with the name Owen Hanson. While his University of Southern California (USC) football background is interesting, he gained notoriety for running a large-scale illegal bookmaking operation.

Regretfully, Owen Hanson USC football career wasn't as successful as his expansion into the underground world, where he, at some point, made $1m per day by working with an infamous cartel. Owen Hanson story inspired a three-part documentary series describing the rise and fall of his criminal organization.

Drug trafficking as a side hustle

Owen Hanson USC story dates back to the early 2000s when he was initially recruited for volleyball before transitioning to the USC football team. Hanson was also a tight end for the 2003-2004 National Championship Team.

However, Owen Hanson was sidelined due to an injury. This injury pushed him into steroids as a way to quickly recover. Considering that those drugs were expensive, he was told that they could be found cheaper in Tijuana, Mexico. In an effort to recover from his injury faster, he agreed to go down that path and smuggled the performance-enhancing drugs back to the United States.

That was definitely a crime, but it can be considered minor compared to Owen Hanson's other unlawful activities. The steroids ordeal made him think about smuggling more drugs from Mexico and distributing them among college athletes.

This, Hanson said in a recent interview for Insider, became his "hustle." From that point on, Hanson started to visit Mexico weekly and distribute steroids to athletes. While he said that there was an ongoing demand for such drugs, he also saw an opportunity in the distribution of adderal, xanax and "party" drugs to college students. Just like in the case of steroids, Hanson acquired those and other drugs from Mexico, which was only a couple of hours' drive from USC.

A report by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) describes Owen Hanson's drug trafficking: "The drug operation started small but evolved into a sophisticated, diversified, and complex trafficking organization that smuggled thousands of kilograms of illegal narcotics—including cocaine and methamphetamine—throughout the U.S., Canada, and Australia."

Hanson's first steps as a bookie

Graduating with a business degree and having played for USC, it seemed like Owen Hanson was living the dream. Obtaining a real estate license, he was hired on the spot after his employer saw his National Championship ring, Hanson said earlier this year when participating in the Throwbacks podcast with Matt Leinart and Jerry Ferrara.

Building a network of contacts while at USC, knowing popular athletes and famous people was a huge leverage for Hanson, who was able to utilize this and grow in the real estate vertical. However, come the 2007 recession and market crash, Owen Hanson story took a dark turn as his dream of selling real estate came to a sudden stop.

Interestingly, this unexpected change in Hanson's life brought up thoughts of him becoming a bookie. Inspired by classic movies such as "Scarface", "Goodfellas," and "Casino," among others, Hanson said on the Throwbacks podcast: "Like, you know, you've always been that gangster life. You've always thought like you've watched Goodfellas, Scarface... and you've always wanted to be like them, right?"

Unlike Owen Hanson USC football career, he quickly gained popularity as a bookmaker. After his real estate dream died, he reached out to his father, who had an Italian bookmaker friend. Realizing the vast network he had built at USC, Hanson saw an opportunity to leverage those contacts.

Starting small, Hanson, who also goes by the nickname The California Kid, earned a 20% commission by collaborating with the Italian bookmaker. While he accepted bets from athletes, he also had to build his own network of clients. But after working with one "whale" customer, a slang term for a rich client who loses massive amounts of money, Hanson realized that if he were working for himself, he would be earning far more than the share he received as commission.

The Owen Hanson interview on Throwbacks revealed that after the Italian bookmaker he worked for refused to increase his commission, he decided to get into sports betting himself. He then visited Costa Rica, describing it as the "mecca of sports betting," and started to build his betting empire.

Owen Hanson's rise as bookmaker and cartel collaborations

In a beach town in Costa Rica called Playa Hermosa, using his college nickname, "ODOG," Owen Hanson created his own website, BetODOG.com. This marked the start of his own bookmaking business. Besides a website, he had a phone line too and paid a fee for each of the customers who bet through him.

Growing exponentially, The California Kid improved his illegal betting business by opening an office and hiring people on payroll. As a result, clients who bet with him received a personalized and "custom" treatment, while high-roller customers had their own VIP account managers.

In 2018, the US Supreme Court struck down PASPA, which used to restrict sports betting to a couple of states. Years before that happened, Hanson was operating in nearly every US state, he said during his recent interview for Insider.

Growing exponentially as a bookmaker, one of Hanson's sub-bookies ran into a "whale" from Mexico that was betting significant sums. After winning big, Hanson ensured that his client received the money they won.

Working with an infamous Mexican cartel, Owen Hason used to earn $1m per day at some point.

Unbeknownst to him at the time, this customer was, in fact, working with a cartel. The same client made Hanson a proposal he accepted – to drop off money in various locations in exchange for a 10% commission. Considering that as a bookmaker, Owen Hanson had access to lots of cash, this was a nice addition to his bookmaking business.

This collaboration with the cartel ultimately led to what the FBI described as a "violent international drug trafficking, sports gambling, and money laundering enterprise that operated in the U.S., Central and South America, and Australia," with Hanson being directly involved.

Working with the cartel brought Hanson so much money that his illegal bookmaking venture became a side hustle. While he was aware of how dangerous the whole ordeal was, he admitted to making the mind-blowing sum of $1m per day at some point.

The arrest of the former USC football player came in 2015

Owen Hanson's activities caught the attention of law enforcement and he was subject to an extensive investigation by the FBI in collaboration with the New South Wales Police Force in Australia. In September 2015, Hanson was arrested after a drug deal with an undercover agent. "He only stopped because law enforcement stopped him," the FBI wrote about the case.

In 2017, Owen Hanson was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison for his leadership of a criminal enterprise. Besides his prison sentence, he was ordered to pay $5m criminal forfeiture that included assets in businesses, $100,000 in gold coins, luxury cars, homes and jewelry.

After spending seven out of 21 years of his sentence in federal prison, Owen Hanson was released in March 2024. While many football fans and bettors alike are interested in his story, Owen Hanson Wikipedia page isn't available.

Owen Hanson movie "Cocaine Quarterback" tells his story

The Owen Hanson story inspired a Mark Wahlberg documentary on Prime Video called Cocaine Quarterback: Signal-Caller for the Cartel. The Owen Hanson Prime Video captures exciting parts of his path from USC football player to a drug kingpin. The Owen Hanson documentary is a three-part series, and it is currently rated at 6.9 out of 10 on IMDb.

The Owen Hanson movie, popular with its short title, Cocaine Quarterback, focuses on his rise and fall. Despite speculation online, Owen Hanson net worth isn't publicly available information.

During his time with the cartel and illegal bookmaking, he was earning millions but after his release from prison, he is reportedly earning $500 every two weeks from selling high-protein ice cream bars. It is unclear what Hanson's earnings are from the documentary series Cocaine Quarterback.

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