The Nevada Gaming Commission next week will consider a settlement with the operators of Resorts World for allowing illegal gamblers to play at the Strip casino.
Resorts World Las Vegas and its affiliated companies will pay a $10.5 million fine for allowing gamblers with ties to illegal bookmaking and histories of federal felony convictions to play at its casino, according to a settlement filed Thursday with gaming regulators.
The fine is the second-highest assessed by the state, and still needs approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission, which meets next week in Las Vegas.
The state’s highest fine, $20 million, was paid in 2019 by Wynn Resorts Ltd. in a sexual harassment complaint.
The settlement with Genting Berhad and five other subsidiaries that operate Resorts World Las Vegas would resolve a 12-count, 31-page complaint initially filed by the Control Board Aug. 15.
In addition to the fine, the resort would be required to provide regular reporting of anti-money-laundering activities to the Control Board and provide updated anti-money-laundering training to the resort’s compliance committee. Resorts World already has begun restructuring its management team, adding former MGM Resorts International Chairman and CEO Jim Murren and former Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Brian Sandoval — a former Nevada governor and current president of the University of Nevada, Reno — to the company’s board of directors.
“Resorts World Las Vegas has reached a pending settlement with the Nevada Gaming Control Board,” a representative of Resorts World said in an emailed statement. “We look forward to the Nevada Gaming Commission considering the settlement and ultimately resolving this matter.”
Illegal bookmakers welcomed
According to the initial Control Board complaint, Resorts World operated with a culture that suggested persons with ties to illegal bookmaking were welcomed at the property.
“Despite having an AML (anti-money-laundering) program, and having apparently trained its employees, Resorts World allowed a culture to exist at its gaming establishment where individuals with suspected and actual ties to illegal bookmaking, with histories of federal felony convictions related to illegal gambling businesses and with a history of ties to organized crime are welcomed at Resorts World, provided comps, gifts and discounts in an effort to obtain their business and allowed to wager and lose substantial sums of money at Resorts World,” the Aug. 15 complaint said.
“This culture results in the perception and/or reality that Resorts World is an avenue to launder funds derived from illegal activity and/or to further criminal activity causing damage to the reputation of the state of Nevada and Nevada’s gaming industry.”
In addition to the proposed stipulation for settlement posted Thursday on the Control Board website, a revised complaint omitting references to “organized crime” was substituted.
The Control Board complaint did not reference any specific company executives but it did name some of the illegal bookmakers that were involved.
Mathew Bowyer implicated
Suspected or known felons wagering at Resorts World included Mathew Bowyer, who pleaded guilty in a California court to operating an unlawful gambling business, money laundering and subscribing to a false tax return; Edwin Ting, convicted in federal court of conducting an illegal gambling business and known to have ties to organized crime; Chad Iwamoto, convicted in federal court of transmission of wagering information and failing to file monthly tax return for wages; and another individual suspected of being an illegal bookmaker that is referred to in the complaint as “RWLV Patron A.”
Six of the 12 counts of the complaint involved Mathew Bowyer, who won and lost millions of dollars playing at Resorts World. The Control Board also filed a complaint Aug. 15 against Nicole Bowyer, Mathew Bowyer’s wife, who was a registered independent agent contracted by Resorts World.
As an independent agent, Nicole Bowyer was allowed to directly profit from Mathew Bowyer’s casino wagering.
“Consequently, Ms. Bowyer received payment from Resorts World despite surely knowing that her husband’s source of funds derived, at least in part, from illegal activity,” a Control Board representative said in an August statement.
The Gaming Commission conducted a disciplinary hearing for Nicole Bowyer in January, but rejected approving a settlement because the majority of commissioners wanted stiffer penalties assessed. The Control Board had recommended revoking her independent agent license for at least five years. Commissioners wanted a lifetime ban and the possible forfeiture of funds she received in her agent role.
The Nicole Bowyer settlement also is expected to be on the commission’s March 27 agenda.
Sibella statement
Disciplinary actions against Resorts World coincide with the tenure of Scott Sibella, who was fined after pleading guilty and being sentenced in federal court in May for failing to file suspicious activity reports and had his Nevada gaming license revoked for five years by the Gaming Commission in December.
After leaving MGM Grand, Sibella went to work as president and chief operating officer of Resorts World.
Even though he hasn’t been named in the Resorts World complaint and regulators said he was absolved from discipline in that complaint, he emailed a statement to the Review-Journal.
“The two bookmakers that put Resorts World in this situation, gambled at all the major casinos in Las Vegas for many years, before, during and after Resorts World opened,” Sibella’s statement said.
“The question is, are these casinos in Las Vegas going to being investigated? These bookmakers were given credit, wired money into their accounts and it should have been approved by compliance. It will be interesting to see what occurs now between those casinos and the Gaming Control Board and the federal government.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
