Was the circus in town last week? Because the Nevada Gaming Commission sure put on a clown show. They handed out a nominal, $7.8 million fine to Caesars Entertainment for flouting anti-money laundering laws. The Roman Empire looked the other way for at least five years while illegal bookie Mathew Bowyer (author of the Shohei Ohtani scandal) gambled at Caesars’ casinos. Amazingly, no one seems to have laughed when Caesars CEO Tom Reeg said, “We never sacrifice compliance for revenue,” even though he clearly did. Reeg followed that howler up with, “There is no customer that’s worth illegitimate profits.” Well, there was at least one.
Being grateful for small favors, in this instance, the house did not profit from illegal activity. Bowyer’s losses to Caesars were one-third of the amount fined. As fearless reporter Dana Gentry pointed out, Nevada‘s powder-puff penalty to Resorts World Las Vegas for illegal gambling allowed that company to pocket a $14 million profit. (We said early on that the fix was in vis-a-vis financially imperiled Resorts World and so it would appear.)
At least NGC member Rosa Solis-Rainey was on the ball when it came to Caesars’ profession that it was shocked—shocked!—to find Bowyer gambling on its turf. “You had an AML officer who was a senior vice president. The fact that this gentleman was a bookie was brought to his attention in 2019, so that is six years before he was banned by the property.” That’s six years of, at best, looking the other way. Only when Bowyer became too hot to handle did Caesars drop him like the proverbial bad habit.
To her further credit, Solis-Rainey wouldn’t support the modest fine, holding out for something genuinely painful. However, neither she nor NGC Chairman Brian Krolicki appeared to have been paying attention. As Gentry observed, they couldn’t tell the difference between Bowyer and co-conspirator Wayne Nix, lumping the two miscreants together. “This AML wrecking ball by the name of Mathew Boyer continues to wreak havoc on compliance plans down the street,” thundered Krolicki, opting for the time-dishonored ‘lone gunman’ theory. “It’s almost numbing that we continue to have this conversation, particularly because of the acts of one individual.” The only thing that’s numb would appear to Krolicki’s brain, as the ongoing money-laundering scandal on the Las Vegas Strip is far more complex than “Bowyer acted alone.” (NGC member George Markantonis also opted for the lone-gunman fantasy.)
It sure is good for the industry’s image if the scandal can be minimized as the work of a rogue-elephant gambler, with Big Gaming just so many innocent bystanders. (At least in the case of Caesars, a few unnamed executives have walked the plank.) In the meantime, the worst offenders are getting off easily. Former Resorts World prexy Scott Sibella? A cushy year of probation. Bowyer? 366 days in the big house. And disordered gambler Ippei Mizuhara, the domino who set this scandal in motion? 57 months in prison. Don’t tell us there aren’t two systems of justice in the U.S., one for the wealthy and connected, one for everybody else. It’s disgusting.
Want to see a slice of gambling’s storied past? Rent or stream (or buy) the movie 5 Against the House. It’s a heist picture set in Reno, including extensive shooting in Harold’s Club. There’s plenty of local color of Reno, of the University of Nevada-Reno campus, the Lake Tahoe area … and did we mention Kim Novak? (Hubba, hubba!) The robbery itself is a howler, involving preposterous disguises that wouldn’t fool a child. But for Fifties gambling flavor it’s tough to beat and Brian Keith makes a great psychopath.
Gridiron Grumbles: It’s bad enough that the Las Vegas Raiders are the second-losingest NFL franchise of the 21st century. But yesterday they were humiliated at Allegiant Stadium by the losingest team of all, the Cleveland Browns. The latter took pity on the Silver & Black, allowing them a pity touchdown in garbage time. Worse still, the loss came at the hands of the insufferable Shedeur Sanders, who will probably be impossible to live with now.
Even had a Pop Warner League mercy rule been in effect, it wasn’t enough to save Offensive Coordinator Chip Kelly‘s job, as he got the axe today. For that matter, the Pete Carroll experiment looks like an abject failure, especially given his obstinate refusal to treat 2025-6 as a rebuilding year. It seemed impossible to move backwards from Antonio Pierce but the Raiders have done just that. Worst of all—as was patiently explained to us during Global Gaming Expo—Raiders owner Mark Davis‘ business plan is such that the Raiders could continue to operate at a profit indefinitely … without ever fielding a winning team. That being the case, where’s the incentive to succeed?
“could continue to operate at a profit indefinitely … without ever fielding a winning team. That being the case, where’s the incentive to succeed?”
Welcome to the NFL. There is little incentive to succeed on the field. I live in Cincinnati, so I know (note–I’ve never been a Bengals fan).