The Nevada Gaming Control Board filed a 12-count complaint Thursday against the operators and owners of Resorts World Las Vegas. The complaint stems from its purported anti-money laundering failures related to the gambling activities of Mathew R. Bowyer and several other illegal bookmakers.
Bowyer, 49, pleaded guilty Aug. 9 to three federal charges on operating an illegal gambling business, transactional money laundering, and filing a false tax return. Bowyer is the preferred bookmaker of choice for Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Shohei Ohtani. Over a multi-year period, Mizuhara is accused by federal prosecutors of placing approximately 19,000 wagers with the Bowyer gambling business, while accumulating net losses of approximately $40.6 million. Mizuhara allegedly embezzled at least $16 million from Ohtani to repay a portion of sports betting debts.
In a 31-page disciplinary complaint, the NGCB detailed how several felons were allowed to place millions of dollars in wagers because Resorts World “failed to adhere” to its anti-money laundering program. During an extensive investigation, the NGCB documented how its agents uncovered a “lack of compliance” at the multi-billion casino. The lax compliance environment enabled certain individuals with “suspected or actual ties to illegal bookmaking,” a history of felony convictions related to illegal gambling, and “ties to organized crime” to gamble millions within the casino.
“Resorts World Las Vegas is aware of the Nevada Gaming Control Board (GCB) complaint. We are committed to doing business with the utmost integrity and in compliance with applicable laws and industry guidelines,” according to a statement obtained by Sports Handle. “We have been actively communicating with the GCB to resolve these issues so we can move forward.”
Bowyer’s History At RWLV
According to the complaint, Bowyer first visited Resorts World Las Vegas (RWLV) in February 2022, nine months after the opening of the glitzy property on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip. At an estimated cost of $4.3 billion, RWLV is the most expensive casino resort property in the history of the city. Upon his first trip, Bowyer made a $1 million front-money deposit, the complaint states. The casino allowed Bowyer to wager even though it had not established his source of funds, according to Nevada regulators.
About two months later, Resorts World Las Vegas entered into an independent agent agreement with Nicole Bowyer, the wife of the bookmaker. At some point in 2022, RWLV, at the request of Mathew Bowyer, established Nicole Bowyer as his casino host. By that July, an AML committee with the casino first evaluated Mathew Bowyer, according to the complaint. The prior month, Bowyer made about $2.51 million in front-money deposits, leading to millions in lost wagers, according to regulators. At the time, Bowyer’s account contained about $5.18 million, according to the complaint, comprised of front-money, casino markers, and other casino chips.
Listed as a partner at Nevada-based Pick Enterprises, LLC, Mathew Bowyer worked as a “known bookie,” a cage manager told the AML committee. In addition, Bowyer used his spouse’s independent host business as a cover, the cage manager stated.
For nearly 15 months, from July 2022 until Oct. 1, 2023, Resorts World allowed Bowyer to gamble at the casino on 80 separate occasions, according to the complaint. During the period, RWLV also furnished Bowyer with comps, promotional chips, discounts, and flights on a company jet. Over that span, he lost in excess of $6.6 million, regulators stated.
The AML committee discussed Bowyer at least four separate times from July 2022 through March 2023, according to the complaint. Bowyer was again evaluated at a subsequent AML Committee meeting on August 17, 2022. At that meeting, a compliance official for the company requested further review of Bowyer for a possible affiliation with a sports betting business.
By the following winter, the AML Committee evaluated Bowyer at another meeting that February. Documentation provided to Nevada regulators by Resorts World indicates that the committee reviewed Bowyer’s profile while discussing Currency Transaction Report (CPR) and sportsbook analytics.
A Host Change
On March 22, 2023, an individual described as “Executive A” made a request to change Bowyer’s host to his wife Nicole. The same executive, according to the complaint, requested that the word “bookie” be stricken from a January 2023 agenda. The description reflected “one person’s opinion,” according to the executive, who added that “there was no evidence of such behavior.” The executive’s request was granted.
Bowyer was banned from Resorts World Las Vegas on Oct. 6, 2023, days after federal agents executed a search warrant of his Southern California home. Under the plea deal, Bowyer agreed to forfeit nearly $258,000 in cash and another $14,830 in casino chips seized in the raid.
According to Bowyer’s plea agreement, he transferred or directed the transfer of at least $9.34 million to “Casino A” in the form of wire transfers as payment for casino markers. On several occasions, Casino A’s sportsbook reached out to Bowyer in an attempt to encourage him to make large bets as a way to offset the sportsbook’s risk, prosecutors allege. Multiple sources have identified Casino A as Resorts World Las Vegas, ESPN reported this month. Asked specifically on Thursday to confirm or deny if RWLV is “Casino A,” a spokesperson declined to comment.
Nicole Bowyer accompanied her husband at last week’s plea hearing in Southern California. The couple held hands while leaving a courthouse in Santa Ana, California. While Diane Bass, an attorney for Mathew Bowyer, addressed reporters outside the federal building, Bowyer did not comment.
Nevada gaming regulators also charged Nicole Bowyer on Thursday in a separate 10-page disciplinary complaint. According to the filing, Nicole received commissions on her husband’s casino play, the play of his entourage, as well as her own play. Mrs. Bowyer earned commissions of $165,661.73 in 2022, followed by additional commissions of $501,786.18 in 2023. To date, Mrs. Bowyer has failed to cooperate with the NGCB investigation, the board wrote in Thursday’s statement.
Nicole Bowyer is not being charged criminally, Bass told Sports Handle on Thursday via text message.
Described by sources as one of the largest bettors-bookmakers in the nation, Bowyer is scheduled to be sentenced in February. The Bowyer Gambling Business, prosecutors allege, used several Costa Rica-based websites and a call center to facilitate the operations. According to court filings, at least 700 sports bettors gambled with Bowyer’s illegal sports betting ring before his arrest.
Mizuhara reportedly sent a series of wire transfers to the illegal bookmaking operation, which were subsequently forwarded to gambling accounts in several unnamed California and Las Vegas casinos. From there, the funds were converted into casino chips and later cashed out to pay the bookmaking operation, multiple sources told ESPN.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California declined comment when reached by Sports Handle on Thursday afternoon.
Alleged Affiliation With Other Bookies
Nevada gaming regulators filed the complaint one day after Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Mitchell was scheduled to make a presentation before the 2024 BSA/AML Gambling Conference at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security and IRS Criminal Investigations also appeared on the conference agenda. Two special agents on the case were scheduled to appear at the Caesars Palace conference.
Mitchell’s presentation focused on the prosecution of Scott Sibella, a former MGM Grand president. Earlier this spring, Sibella was sentenced to probation in connection with his failure to file a suspicious transaction report at the MGM Grand, pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act. In that case, Sibella admitted guilt in connection with his relationship with Wayne Nix, a former minor league pitcher and illegal bookmaker. A source previously told Sports Handle that agents of Bowyer placed wagers with the sports betting ring operated by Nix.
Sibella left the MGM Grand in 2019 before becoming the president of Resorts World Las Vegas. Last year, RWLV terminated Sibella for violating unspecified company policies. Sibella was not named in Thursday’s complaint. Resorts World Las Vegas is a hospitality and casino development company owned by the Genting Group, a publicly traded Malaysian corporation, according to the property’s website.
Besides Bowyer, Resorts World Las Vegas allowed two felons convicted on illegal gambling charges to wager at the casino. RWLV extended credit of $300,000 to Edwin Ting in July 2021 before providing him with a $500,000 line of credit in March 2023, according to the complaint. Ting was sentenced in 2014 for his role in a massive gambling ring that allegedly laundered more than $100 million in profits. RWLV also allowed Chad Iwamoto to wager millions of dollars over a multi-year period through this May. Iwamoto pleaded guilty in 2014 to felony charges in Hawaii surrounding his involvement in an illegal poker ring.
Regulators are seeking a multi-million dollar fine and action against the gaming licenses of the Vegas property. The fine could be in the neighborhood of tens of millions, a confidential source told Sports Handle this week.
“The NGCB investigation revealed 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,” Nevada regulators wrote in the complaint.
