[sureLoss]

Bookie claims Vanek owed him $10 million dollars and told Vanek that he (the bookie) would get hurt if Vanek did not pay him.

National Hockey League star Thomas Vanek apparently bet — and lost — a lot.

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.

Vanek, who previously played with the Rochester Americans and Buffalo Sabres, now plays for the Minnesota Wild.

Vanek played with the New York Islanders when he made the $230,000 payment. He endorsed over a team paycheck for the payment early this year.

Vanek was never threatened with any physical harm, Parrinello said. Instead, Ruff lied to Vanek and said that he — Ruff — would be hurt if he didn't collect some money toward what Vanek owed.

"According to the law, was it extortion?" Parrinello said. "Yes."

Under an agreement with prosecutors, Ruff's sentence will be 41 months if a judge approves it at Ruff's March sentencing. He also forfeited his Greece home, tens of thousands of dollars in various accounts, another $10,000 seized in police raids, and $50,000 in a business account held by his attorney.