Bookie claims NHL player owes $10 million dollar gambling debt.

Big news came out today in regards to the illegal gambling ring Thomas Vanek was involved in. A bookie is claiming that Thomas Vanek's gambling debt reached a whopping $10 million dollars. Here's the report from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle:

A local bookie, Joseph Ruff, on Friday admitted to extorting a $230,000 payment from Vanek as partial payment of gambling losses Vanek owed. After the plea, Ruff’s attorney, Matthew Parrinello, said Vanek had owed upward of $10 million. “He wasn’t very good,” Parrinello said of Vanek’s gambling performance. Ruff pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to illegal gambling, an extortion conspiracy and a money-laundering conspiracy. The target of the extortion plot was not identified in court but Parrinello later identified the individual as Vanek.

Of course Thomas Vanek and his attorney's deny the entire story, Vanek's attorney Steve Bartlett called it a “complete fabrication,” according to ESPN. The bookie in question, Joseph Ruff, has pleaded guilty to illegal gambling, money laundering, and extortion. He admitted to extortion and said he lied to Vanek saying that if he was unable to recoup the debt Vanek owed, he would be hurt. Vanek apparently signed over a $230,000 check from his time with the New York Islanders to help Ruff get out of trouble. Vanek’s sport of choice was football, but he also bet on basketball as well. No way of knowing who is telling the truth, bookies aren't exactly the most trustworthy and neither are degenerate gamblers. What do you think?