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A struggling Las Vegas casino will pay the second-largest fine in Nevada gaming history after regulators signed off on a settlement over the resort’s failure to comply with federal anti-money laundering laws.
The Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) voted 4-0 on Thursday (March 27) to approve an amended ten-count complaint filed against the Resorts World Las Vegas casino on March 20, along with the proposed settlement.
Commissioner Abbi Silver, a former justice with the Nevada Supreme Court, recused herself from the hearing due to a long-standing friendship with the property's former CEO, whose conduct is part of the complaint.
Scott Sibella, a former top executive with Resorts World Las Vegas and MGM Grand, had his Nevada gaming license revoked in December, almost a year after he pled guilty to federal criminal charges in a money laundering case involving an illegal bookmaker.
The settlement agreement approved on Thursday includes a $10.5m fine against Resorts World and its parent company, Genting Berhad, second highest only to the $20m fine imposed by gaming regulators on Wynn Resorts in February 2019.
That agreement covered a ten-count complaint related to a string of allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct by co-founder Steve Wynn against former employees. Wynn always denied the allegations.
A related fine of $10m against Wynn personally remains the largest ever assessed against an individual in Nevada's gaming industry.
The settlement approved between Resorts World and the NGC follows an August 2024 complaint by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB), which originally contained 12 counts of regulatory violations but was later amended to ten.
Darlene Caruso, deputy attorney general with the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, said counts 11 and 12, which were present in the original complaint, addressed concerns the NGCB had with the reported background of two other patrons at Resorts World. Those individuals were identified as Edwin Ting and Chad Iwamoto.
“However, both counts were removed because additional discovery revealed that Resorts World conducted sufficient enhanced due diligence and other compliance reviews regarding those two individuals to comply with Nevada gaming requirements,” Caruso told the commission.
The amended complaint arose out of an NGCB investigation into Resorts World, initially related to illegal bookmaker Matthew Bowyer. Six of the ten counts in the NGCB’s amended complaint involved Bowyer, who lost just under $8m in approximately 20 months of gambling.
Nevada gaming regulators found that the casino had failed to comply with the federal Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by allowing Bowyer and another individual, Damien LeForbes, to gamble millions of dollars.
Bowyer was a customer of Resorts World from early 2022 until he was banned in October 2023, after federal authorities conducted a search of his home in California.
According to the complaint, Bowyer lost more than $1.2m over two months in 2022 at Resorts World without casino executives identifying the source of his funds. Caruso told commissioners that he was the subject of several meetings of the casino's anti-money laundering (AML) compliance department.
“Further, at one AML committee meeting in July 2022, Resorts World’s director of cage stated during the … meeting that Mr. Bowyer is a known bookie and was using his spouse’s independent host business as a cover,” Caruso said.
In January, the NGC delayed a decision on a settlement reached with Nicole Bowyer. She faced a potential five-year ban as a registered agent in Nevada, but commissioners wanted more restrictive penalties.
LeForbes, who was named in the NGCB’s amended complaint, “wagered millions of dollars at Resorts World, despite a casino host knowing that he was an illegal bookmaker”, Caruso said.
Bowyer pled guilty in August 2024 to running an illegal gambling business and filing a false tax return, while LeForbes pled guilty to charges of illegal gambling and transactional money laundering.
As part of the settlement, Resorts World has agreed to implement stricter AML protocols. The resort also agreed that if any federal enforcement actions are taken against the property related to the allegations, the NGCB “reserves the right to file a separate disciplinary complaint based on the federal action”.
Commissioner Rosa Solis-Rainey took issue with Resorts World not accepting responsibility within the settlement for the events that took place on its property.
“I do appreciate the extensive efforts that the company has undertaken to move forward,” Solis-Rainey said. “Personally, I feel that the fine is on the low side, but in the interest of moving forward … I’m prepared to support it.”
Executive Overhaul
Much of the illegal activity cited in the amended complaint took place during Sibella’s tenure as CEO and president of Resorts World. He was fired in September 2023.
While overseeing the MGM Grand, Sibella also failed to properly report suspicious financial transactions of the since-convicted illegal bookmaker Wayne Nix.
Genting, the Malaysia-based owner of Resorts World, has since revamped the property’s leadership, hiring gaming industry veteran Alex Dixon as CEO in January. The $4.3bn Resorts World resort opened in June 2021 and was the first new casino to be completed on the Las Vegas Strip since the Cosmopolitan opened in 2010.
The company also established a new board of directors that includes former MGM Resorts International chairman and CEO Jim Murren; former NGCB chairman A.G. Burnett; Michelle DiTondo, a veteran human resources executive with MGM and Caesars Entertainment; K.H. Tan, Genting’s former president and CEO; and former Nevada Republican Governor Brian Sandoval, who also once served as chairman of the NGC.
Under the settlement, Resorts World has revised its AML program and will update it as necessary going forward, as well as conducting an annual review of the program. Resorts World also has 120 days for its audit team to review, evaluate and report on its compliance with its AML program.
Caruso made it clear that all “material amendments to Resorts World’s AML program must also be submitted to the board chair”.
According to the initial complaint, the culture within Resorts World created the perception that the resort was an avenue to launder funds derived from illegal activity.
“With regard to the settlement, the board found that the violations alleged in its amended complaint are particularly egregious, warranting a substantial penalty and significant changes at Resorts World,” Caruso said.
