The hole-trapped antisite bismuth center has been directly observed by W-band ͑94 GHz͒ electron paramagnetic resonance ͑EPR͒ in the series of sillenite crystals, Bi 12 MO 20 ͑M = Ge, Si, Ti, denoted as BMO͒, either nondoped or doped with transition ions ͑Cr, Cu, Ru, Ce͒. Blue light illumination influences the EPR intensity in most crystals, while in nondoped Bi 12 GeO 20 and Bi 12 SiO 20 the signals only appear upon illumination. The spectra can be attributed to a single species and no anisotropy could be detected eliminating any significant deviation from tetrahedral symmetry due to a perturbing defect in the near neighborhood or to static lattice distortion. The large and isotropic hyperfine parameter, in good agreement with previous optically detected magnetic-resonance measurements ͓Phys. Rev. B 47, 5638 ͑1993͔͒, reveals that only ϳ25% of the hole is in the Bi 6s 1 orbital, by delocalization mainly to the neighboring oxygen ions, with extremely small spin densities on the surrounding Bi 3+ lattice ions as derived from the EPR linewidths. The parameter variations between the three crystalline hosts are very small, showing a near-identical degree of delocalization of the trapped hole.