Ex MGM, Genting Exec Scott Sibella Could Lose Gaming License in Betting Scandal
The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) has filed a complaint against Scott Sibella, the former president of Resorts World Las Vegas and MGM Grand. The formal charge, which was filed on Tuesday, comprises three counts and claims that Sibella permitted unlicensed bookies to wager heavily at the MGM Grand without investigating the source of their money.
Sibella entered a guilty plea in January to a federal charge of violating the Bank Secrecy Act in connection with the same accusation. Sibella was fired by Resorts World in September 2023 for breaking company rules. Next Monday, he is expected to receive his sentence.
On the Sibella case, the NGCB initially threw caution to the wind. The regulator cleared the casino executive last year after receiving information about his connections to bookies, deeming the accusations to be "unsubstantiated."
Expanding the Probe
The NGCB has now joined a large federal investigation into the potential laundering of money from illegal bookmaking at Las Vegas casinos after seeing through a gimmick. The scope of this has expanded to include Matt Bowyer, who reportedly obtained $16 million from Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani's bank account, which was purportedly taken by Ohtani's interpreter, Ippei Mizhura.
In the first count of the NGCB complaint against Sibella, it is claimed that he neglected to report a suspicious transaction (STR) in 2018 when bookie Wayne Nix used $120,000 in cash to pay a marker at the MGM Grand.
Sibella, who was the casino's president at the time, later told federal agents that he knew he would have to prevent Nix from playing, so he didn't want to inquire into the source of the money.
The second allegation claims that even though he was aware that Nix's money originated from illicit bookmaking, he nevertheless let him to play. According to the third, he committed the first two acts in violation of MGM Resorts' anti-money laundering (AML) policies. Sibella may have to pay a fine of up to $750K and lose his gaming license as a result of the allegation.
Nix, a former minor league baseball pitcher who worked with professional athletes in multiple sports as an illegal bookmaker, has entered a guilty plea to illegal gambling and is currently awaiting sentencing.
"Undercover Weekends" with Scott Sibella
Scott Sibella Undercover Weekends were a periodic event that Sibella presented at the MGM Grand. These were VIP gambling events that were invite-only, so named after his 2011 appearance on the CBS program Undercover Boss. The complaint states that Sibella invited Nix and Bowyer as guests to these events.
To entice Nix to keep playing at the casino, senior management reportedly gave him complimentary golf outings.
Ohtani's Money Filtered Through Casinos
According to an ESPN investigation that was released on Tuesday, money that was moved from Ohtani's bank account wound up at Resorts World and other casinos in California and Las Vegas.
According to sources who spoke with ESPN, Mizhura transferred the funds to a friend of Bowyer's who then transferred it to his marker accounts at Resorts World and Pechanga Casino in Northern California. The males took out the cash in chips, used them for gambling, then cashed out what was left.
ESPN sources claim that between June 2022 and October 2023, Bowyer lost $7.9 million at Resorts World.