Resorts World LV allowed known illegal bookies, felons to gamble, says GCB complaint • Nevada Current

A complaint filed by the Nevada Gaming Control Board alleges Resorts World Las Vegas turned a blind eye as it won millions of dollars from known illegal bookies and convicted felons who lacked a confirmed source of funds.

The GCB alleges “an overall lack of control within Resorts World and acceptance among Resorts World executives of a culture where information of suspicious or illegal activity, at a minimum, is negligently disregarded, or at worst, willfully ignored for financial gain, given the overall pressure for Resorts World to generate revenue, and that the bonuses of Resorts World executives are directly tied to the financial success of Resorts World.”

“Resorts World Las Vegas is aware of the Nevada Gaming Control Board (GCB) complaint,” a spokesperson said by email. “We are committed to doing business with the utmost integrity and in compliance with applicable laws and industry guidelines. We have been actively communicating with the GCB to resolve these issues so we can move forward and focus on our guests and nearly 5,000 team members.”

The complaint details minutes from anti-money laundering (AML) compliance committee meetings in which executives ignored the casino cage manager’s admonition that gambler Matt Bowyer was an illegal bookie, and eventually had the information removed from the meeting’s minutes. 

Bowyer is the bookie who took tens of thousands of bets from Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter who admits to stealing more than $16 million from baseball star Shohei Ohtani to feed his gambling addiction.

In Dec.  2021, Bowyer, a California resident, submitted a $5,000 credit application that was  later converted to a $1 million front money application, the complaint says. Bowyer said he was  self-employed as a real estate investor, however Resorts World was unable to verify the legitimacy of his business, but was allowed to deposit the money anyway. 

Bowyer deposited $1 million front money in February 2022 “and was allowed to wager even though Resorts World had not established a source of funds,” the GCB complaint says.

In April 2022, Resorts World entered into an independent agent agreement with Bowyer’s wife, Nicole, who is also charged in a separate complaint. The agreement allowed Mrs. Bowyer to earn commission from her husband’s gambling.

“Ms. Bowyer received payments from Resorts World, despite surely knowing that her husband’s source of funds derived, at least in part, from illegal activity,” the complaint says. 

At Resorts World’s July 2022 AML committee meeting, according to the minutes cited in the complaint, the director of casino cage operations stated that Bowyer “is a known bookie and is using his spouse’s independent host business as a cover. The AML committee was obligated to make recommendations to bar, ban, or otherwise restrict patron from Resorts World in accordance with the AML program.” 

A vice-president of compliance requested further review of Bowyer’s source of funds at the August 2022 committee meeting, “for possible sports betting business affiliation,” the complaint says. “Bowyer lost almost $1.2 million over a two month period, while Resorts World failed to verify his source of funds.”

At the February 2023 compliance committee meeting, the director of cage operations once again asserted Bowyer “is a known bookie and is using his spouse’s business as the cover.” 

A month later, according to the March 2023 meeting minutes “Executive A requested that Mr. Bowyer’s host be changed from himself to his wife, Nicole Bowyer. Executive A also requested that the word ‘bookie’ be stricken from the January 2023 agenda, as that was one person’s opinion and there was no evidence of such behavior.” The minutes note Bowyer’s wife as his host, and the word ‘bookie’ was stricken from the previous agenda. 

“Resorts World executives explained to board agents that it should take no longer than 90 days to complete a source of funds investigation,” the complaint says. “However, Bowyer was allowed to play at Resorts World for approximately 20 months without establishing his source of funds and or that his source of funds was consistent with his level of play.”

The AML committee failed to exercise proper due diligence and follow up, and failed to adequately perform ‘Know Your Customer’ protocol.  

The AML committee, the complaint says, was composed of “Resorts World’s Executive Leadership and included the AML officer, President, Chief Financial Officer, General Counsel, Senior Vice President, Senior VP of player development, Director of Surveillance and Director of Compliance.”

The resort’s former president, Scott Sibella, says although he was on the committee, he never attended a meeting. 

“I relied on my executive team to handle compliance issues,” Sibella said Thursday via text. “At MGM, I relied on the Corporate Compliance Committee, which I was never invited to attend.”

Resorts World general counsel Gerald Gardner, who is also on the compliance committee, declined to say whether he attended the meetings at issue, or confirm that Sibella did not. 

Sibella declined to say whether he takes any responsibility for the allegations in the GCB complaint, many of which occurred before he was terminated in September 2023.  

Sibella, formerly the president of MGM Grand, entered a plea deal earlier this year with federal prosecutors in the Central District of California for failing to ensure the filing of a suspicious activity report when known illegal bookie Wayne Nix paid a gambling debt at the MGM with $120,000 in cash. 

The GCB filed its own complaint against Sibella and MGM In April, but has yet to take action. 

The move ended months of awkward silence and inaction on the part of state regulators while federal officials from California investigated, filed charges, and forged a plea agreement with Sibella and a non-prosecution agreement with MGM, which paid a $7.45 million fine. 

In October 2023, during a marketing trip to an NFL football game in Dallas, “Bowyer informed RW LV Host One that Bowyer ‘runs a book’ and asked RW LV Host One to refer clients to Bowyer. Bowyer offered RW LV Host One money in return for referring clients to Bowyer.”

Host One, who is not identified, provided a customer’s name to Bowyer, but later felt “uneasy about referring his Resort World client to Bowyer, and subsequently sent a message to the client telling him to stay away from Bowyer.” The host did not tell Resorts World that Bowyer was a bookie.  

Federal agents raided Bowyer’s California home days after his Resorts World trip to Dallas. 

Resorts World allowed Bowyer and Damien LeForbes to gamble after the Current reported in August 2023 that federal authorities were investigating MGM Grand and Resorts World and whether illegal bookies were obtaining confidential gambler information from their hosts.

“Resorts World allowed Bowyer to play 80 separate days between approximately July 2022 and October 2023,” and during that period, “extended numerous benefits to Bowyer to encourage him to play at Resorts World, including comps, promo, chips, gifts, discounts and flights,” the complaint alleges. “Ultimately, over that period, Bowyer lost in excess of $6.6 million. Over the entire time Bowyer was a patron of Resorts World, Bowyer lost over $7.9 million.”

Each day Bowyer played “constitutes a separate violation” of gaming laws. 

Patron A, who told his Resorts World host that he was a bookie, according to the complaint, lost $10 million at Resorts World between September 2022 and December 2023, and gambled 150 separate days during that period.

Patron A’s host testified to board agents that he did not tell supervisors Patron A was a bookie because he “thought that he was not the only one that kind of knew,” and others overlooked it.

It’s unknown if Patron A is Le Forbes. In May, the Current reported LeForbes, who is being investigated by federal authorities in connection with illegal sports betting, racked up $12.3 million in losses during close to four dozen trips to Resorts World, according to sources.

The complaint also alleges Resorts World granted credit to convicted illegal gambler Edwin Ting, after initially denying his request. Ting lost more than $800,000 between June 2021 and July 2023, and was not banned until August 2023, as a result of an internal review. 

Resorts World also allowed Chad Iwamoto to gamble, despite a 2014 guilty plea for the felony crime of transmitting wagering information. 

The GCB says its investigation remains open, pending developments in the related federal cases.