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Nevada gaming regulators have issued a 12-count disciplinary complaint against Resorts World Las Vegas and its parent company Genting for allegedly failing to comply with federal anti-money laundering laws by allowing illegal bookmakers to wager millions of dollars at the casino.
Resorts World and Malaysia-based Genting Berhad were named in the complaint published on Thursday (August 15) by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB).
Regulators can settle the complaint in return for a monetary penalty, or revoke or suspend Resorts World’s nonrestricted gaming license.
The 31-page complaint deals with the activities of illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, who pled guilty in federal court earlier this month to one count each of operating an illegal gambling business, money laundering and filing a false tax return.
According to the NGCB, Bowyer was allowed to gamble millions of dollars at Resorts World even though the resort had not adequately established his source of funds.
In December 2021, Resorts World conducted a source-of-funds review of Bowyer, which identified a California real-estate investment business he owned, but it did not include any information about the business such as the number of its employees or its annual sales.
Within several days of Bowyer’s review, Resorts World prepared a “due diligence report” in relation to a $1m front-money application. The NGCB found there was limited information regarding his business or income and the report indicated that Bowyer had a previous bankruptcy and foreclosure.
Bowyer was categorized as “medium risk”, even though comments in the report indicated that casino officials were unable to confirm his source of funds.
Bowyer first visited Resorts World in February 2022 but was banned from the casino in October 2023, shortly after federal authorities raided his home in San Juan Capistrano, California.
Bowyer, who lost $7.9m gambling at Resorts World Las Vegas, has agreed to cooperate with law enforcement as part of a please agreement.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 7, 2025, and faces up to ten years in prison for money laundering, up to five for illegal bookmaking and up to three years for filing a false tax return.
Bowyer was famously the illegal bookmaker who took about 19,000 bets from Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter who stole more than $16m from Los Angeles Dodgers baseball star Shohei Ohtani.
Also named in the NGCB complaint were Edwin Ting, who was convicted in federal court of conducting an illegal gambling operation and known to have ties to organized crime, and Chad Iwamoto, a convicted felon and another suspected illegal bookmaker.
“Resorts World Las Vegas is aware of the Nevada Gaming Control Board complaint,” according to a statement emailed to Vixio GamblingCompliance by an outside public relations firm on behalf of Resorts World.
“We are committed to doing business with the utmost integrity and in compliance with applicable laws and industry guidelines,” the statement said. “We have been actively communicating with the [N]GCB to resolve these issues so we can move forward and focus on our guests and nearly 5,000 team members.”
The NGCB asserts in its complaint that a number of individuals, including Bowyer, were allowed to place millions of dollars of wagers at Resorts World over a number of months because of the casino’s failure to adhere to its anti-money laundering (AML) program.
“The culture within Resorts World creates the perception, or the reality in certain instances, that Resorts World is an avenue to launder funds derived from illegal activity,” the control board alleges in its complaint.
The NGCB investigation also alleges an acceptance among Resorts World executives “of a culture where information of suspicious or illegal activity is, at a minimum, negligently disregarded, or at worst, willfully ignored for financial gain”.
Most of the illegal activity involving Bowyer and others occurred while Scott Sibella was president of Resorts World. He was fired in September 2023 and pleaded guilty in May to one federal count of failure to file a suspicious activity report while he was president of MGM Grand.
Sibella was given probation and a $9,500 fine. The MGM Grand and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas were fined a combined $7.45m by the U.S. Department of Justice because of Sibella’s actions and the failures of its AML compliance programs.
The control board filed a three-count complaint against Sibella, who was not named in Thursday’s complaint, in April for failing to comply with MGM Resorts International’s AML policy and failing to comply with the company's internal controls that required him to report suspicious activity regarding another illegal bookmaker, Wayne Nix. That complaint has yet to be settled.
The NGCB issued a separate complaint Thursday against Nicole Bowyer, the wife of Mathew Bowyer. In April 2022, she entered into an “independent agent” or junket agreement with Resorts World and in June registered with the control board.
As an independent agent, Bowyer was required to “use best efforts to locate and recommend new individuals to become patrons” at Resorts World, offering goods and services as appropriate, in exchange for a commission based on a percentage of the customer’s wagering accounts.
As part of her agreement with Resort World, she agreed to become knowledgeable about Title 31 of federal anti-money laundering obligations, including the prohibitions or reporting of money laundering.
Bowyer was paid commissions on her husband’s play, as well as the play of his entourage, at Resorts World, earning $165,661 in 2022 and $501,786 in 2023. The NGCB noted that Bowyer’s main client was her husband, Mathew, and that she earned substantial commission from losses derived from an illegal bookmaking business.
As a result, “Nicole Bowyer at least in part participated in the possible illegal laundering of money through Resorts World”, the NGCB alleged.
In a statement, the control board said Bowyer also failed to cooperate with the investigation.
Kirk Hendrick, control board chair, said the NGCB was committed to protecting the state of Nevada’s citizens, visitors and its “vital gaming industry”.
“All suspected violations of Nevada’s gaming laws and regulations will be fully investigated, and disciplinary action will be filed when warranted,” Hendrick said in a statement.
