Bets Were Illegal, but Arrest Unlikely : Golf: Jordan’s penchant for high-stakes games known throughout San Diego County.

If Chicago Bull superstar Michael Jordan and a former San Diego sports executive wagered large amounts of money at golf courses anywhere in California, as a new book claims, both are subject to arrest and prosecution under the state penal code, law enforcement experts said Thursday.

Sgt. Michael Davis, an investigator in the vice unit of the San Diego Police Department, said detectives had become aware of Jordan’s reputation as a high-stakes gambler on golf courses throughout the San Diego area but that making an arrest--at this point--is unlikely.

“We’d have to gather physical evidence to support the crime,” Davis said. “An admission alone is not sufficient to determine whether a crime has been committed.”

The admission surfaced this week in interviews with Richard Esquinas, author of a recently released book, “Michael & Me: Our Gambling Addiction . . . My Cry For Help!” The book is a confessional account by the former general manager of the San Diego Sports Arena.

Esquinas claims having beaten Jordan so often at golf for money that, at one point over the last four years, pro basketball’s biggest star owed him as much as $1.252 million. Jordan and his representatives have declined comment.

Davis said that Section 330 of the California penal code specifically prohibits any game “played with cards, dice or any device for money, checks (or) credit.” In this case, “any device” means golf, Davis said.

Police are not the only ones aware of Jordan’s presence on local golf courses and his widening reputation for heavy betting. Golf pros at many San Diego County courses said Thursday that the Esquinas-Jordan pairing had been common knowledge.

At the Stardust Country Club in Mission Valley, where the rivalry reportedly got started when the two met at a charity basketball game in 1989, Thursday’s talk veered sharply from the NBA playoffs to what several duffers called the duo’s big-money games.

“We all heard that, whenever Jordan was in town, which apparently was fairly often, he and Richard were playing for some pretty big stakes,” said Jason Clements, 24, an assistant golf pro at Stardust.

“It’s pretty common knowledge that Michael loves to play and loves to gamble,” Clements added. “But I heard that, whenever he came to town, Richard was the person he played. I once heard they were playing for at least $1,000 a hole.”

A source close to the club said that Esquinas, before his partnership with Harry Cooper, the former leaseholder of the San Diego Sports Arena, had been able to make a living by “hustling” golf bets at Stardust.

“I never hustled anybody,” Esquinas said. “I don’t know why anyone would say that.”

Added Dave Distel, with whom he collaborated on the book: “Richard told me he had played at Stardust (prior to meeting Jordan) but hadn’t gotten into the big numbers” until the two began betting thousands of dollars.

A golf pro at the Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad said that Esquinas and Jordan had been seen playing frequently on his course at various times since 1989, although “not as much recently.”

Chuck Minerd, an assistant golf pro at the Torrey Pines course, near where Jordan stayed in 1992, during the U.S. Olympic basketball team’s practice sessions in La Jolla, said the superstar’s reputation as an unlucky gambler had made the rounds in local golf circles.

“As far as Michael was concerned, there were always a lot of jokes going around,” Minerd said. “A lot of the other golf pros would say, ‘He can come out and play with us any time’--because he isn’t that good a golfer, even though he thinks he is.

“He’s not like everyone makes him out to be--as a great golfer, that is. He says he has a two handicap, but that doesn’t mean that’s his average. I’d take a bet with a two handicapper any time.”