(Resorts World Las Vegas public relations photo)
The Nevada Gaming Commission is slated to decide Thursday whether a $10.5 million proposed settlement with Resorts World Las Vegas, deemed insufficient by some industry insiders, is enough to close the book on a complaint filed last year against the casino by state regulators.
According to the Gaming Control Board’s complaint, Resorts World Las Vegas executives allowed admitted illegal bookies Mathew Bowyer and Damien LeForbes to gamble, approached Bowyer to hedge bets for the hotel’s sports book, and altered compliance committee meeting minutes that revealed the true source of Bowyer’s income.
Bowyer is the bookie who took bets totalling tens of millions of dollars from Ippei Mizuhara, a former interpreter who admits he stole the money from baseball star Shohei Ohtani.
Bowyer’s wife, Nicole, who served as her husband’s independent representative and earned commissions from Resorts World on his play, is named in a separate complaint
A former Gaming Control Board employee who is not being identified out of concern for retaliation, characterized the proposed fine as “a slap on the wrist.”
“From reading the State complaint, Resorts World gave every appearance of being institutionally out of control,” says Richard Schuetz, a former member of the California Gambling Control Commission and a longtime casino executive. “This is a continuing chapter that indicates that Nevada’s regulatory assets have lost the plot. This does not even amount to a wrist slap.”
The Current was first to report in 2023 that the Criminal Division of the Internal Revenue Service was investigating Resorts World and MGM Grand. The IRS settled its case last year with MGM, which paid a $7.45 million fine. Former MGM Grand president Scott Sibella, who later became CEO and president of Resorts World, was fired by Resorts World weeks after the Current broke the news of the investigation. Sibella later pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of failing to file federal anti-money laundering reports.
Nevada gaming regulators subsequently filed a complaint against Resorts World, and resolved a complaint against Sibella by revoking his gaming license for five years.
The state’s stipulation with Sibella addressed his actions at MGM, but “also encompasses, and is intended to resolve any responsibility attributable to RESPONDENT for his actions or inaction in relation to any potential violation of…regulations during his employment by Resorts World Las Vegas.”
The GCB, in its proposed settlement with Resorts World, is reserving the right to take additional disciplinary action in the event the Department of Justice or Department of Treasury takes any criminal, civil, or administrative action against the casino.
The IRS has yet to file a complaint against Resorts World but is said to be negotiating a non-prosecution agreement and fine with the casino, according to sources close to the case. A spokesperson for Resorts World has declined to comment.
In addition to the $10.5 million fine, the settlement requires that Resorts World:
- Maintain its anti-money laundering (AML) program and review it annually;
- Retain AML records and AML committee meeting minutes for at least five years
- Within 60 days assign and AML training module to all independent agents
- Conduct an internal audit of AML compliance in two years
- Report to the board chair within three days any notice of criminal investigation or disciplinary action
- Obtain a “customized gaming compliance program” from the UNLV International Center for Gaming Regulation.
Resorts World “believed it was operating within industry standards and norms. Notwithstanding that, RWLV acknowledges that it has its own independent duties and should have made certain judgments and determinations,” the proposed agreement says, adding the company has realized, “through the Board’s investigation, as well as its own, that RWLV’s program needed enhancement to address certain compliance risks.”
Resorts World has since “implemented wholesales changes” including the creation of a new board of directors, which includes former MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren, former GCB chairman A.G. Burnett, and former Gov. Brian Sandoval, who also served as chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, and is now president of the University of Nevada Reno.
An email obtained by the Current reveals Murren and the Gaming Control Board were aware in 2019 of allegations that Sibella was allowing customers with questionable sources of income to gamble. Murren and the GCB have not responded to requests to comment.
The Gaming Control Board has yet to take any action against MGM.
Murren is also chairman of the United Arab Emirates’ General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority, a position that could pose a conflict of interest in light of his appointment to the Resorts World board.
“The friends and kin network of Nevada seems to have gotten way too tight,” observes Schuetz. “Over the last few years, the expression Gold Standard has become more of a punchline than a description.”