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A daily podcast delving into the biggest stories of the day throughout the sports betting and igaming sector.
Welcome to the iGaming Daily and we have a really
interesting episode today brought to you by
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And some stories that we cover are so complex
and so fascinating that you would think they
had been written for the big screen by Martin
Scorsese or a Hollywood director. And this one
with Resorts World is very much one of them.
I'm joined by Jess Wellman, the editor of SBC
Americas and Canadian Game and Business to
dive deep into this story. Jess, thanks for
joining us. We... We really do have a fascinating
one today, right? Yeah, and I don't have to
do hosting duties, so thank you for filling
in on that part of this. Well, it's a pleasure
to host on an episode that is gonna take a
few angers, I'm sure. Juicy. Yeah, juicy is
the right word, the one that, as I said, could
be written for the big screen. So let's get
right into it, I guess. For context, it's hard
to know where to start with this story, but
for context. this case with Resorts World,
it did seem to begin to kind of unravel when
Scott Sibela, Scott Sybella, the former president
of Resorts World, his story came to light. Where
are we with that case? And yeah, how did it
kind of begin to unravel? So there are, okay,
by my count, there are kind of four different
Cases will use the word, but they're not all
legal. Some are regulatory. So there is an,
I say old, like a year or two ago, there was
a big investigation with Wayne Nix, who is
an illegal bookmaker. That's with like the feds.
They figured out this guy is a bookie. He's
running, you know, a bunch of sports betting
clients and stuff. Scott Sabella. was with
MGM resorts at the time of what was taking place
in that case. And he has pled guilty related
to that case to money laundering because he
knew where the money was coming from. And despite
that, being an executive at a regulated casino
was like, come gamble, be a high roller, which
is illegal. Yeah. So there's that. That's kind
of let's just park that and move that over
there. So he's going to go to prison for that.
He has been sentenced and they're just determining
how long he's going to go to prison. Scott's
Bella. In the interim, Scott's Bella went to
open Resorts World, which is actually a relatively
new property in Las Vegas. It opened in like
twenty one, I think. All of this in this case
that we were writing about this week took place.
during 2023-2022 in there while he was in charge.
So even though he's not named in the NGCB,
Nevada Gaming Control Board, complaint against
Resorts World, he was the guy in charge when
all of this was happening. So that's the third
thing. Well, in order to talk about the third
thing, I have to tell you about the fourth thing,
which is, I think... You know, you have to
kind of been hiding under a rock to not know
that Shohei Otani's interpreter, Ipe Mizuhara,
has been involved in his own illegal gambling
ring where Matthew Boyer is the bookmaker or
bookie, illegal bookie, who was taking those
wagers. Resorts World is in extremely hot water
because that property, let Matthew Boyer come
to the property and gamble on a line of credit.
Having a line of credit at a casino in the US,
at least, is not abnormal. But what you have
to do for anti-money laundering processes is
go through a process where you prove where
your funds come from. You can't just say, oh,
I've got a million bucks. Don't worry about
it. They have to do their diligence to determine
where that money came from and make sure that
it was obtained through legal measures. He filled
out a form for a 5k line of credit and had
to do no proof of funds. And later it was just
bumped up to a million. No questions asked.
No more diligence done. To make matters weirder
and juicier, he also requested, this part I'm
less clear about, his wife Nicole Boyer at some
point was a casino host at Resorts World. If
she was a host before this or he got her a job
as a host, I'm not clear. But he then is like,
and by the way, I want my wife to be my host.
And meaning she gets him credit, gets him comps,
gets him things, and then gets compensation
and commission on how much he gambles. So he
is gambling millions and millions of dollars.
His wife is profiting off of it. And his wife,
as the Nevada Gaming Control Board said, ought
to have known that this money comes from being
an illegal bookie because like, dude, you're
married to him. You should know what he does
for a living. And so there are two complaints.
There's one against, you know, Genting, the
whole Resorts World organization. And then there
is one specifically against Nicole Boyer. Sorry,
that was a lot. There's so many strands, so
many different characters all equally fascinating.
For context may have been living under a rock.
Shohei Otani is a Dodgers player, right? Yes.
In the MLB, very famous. Oh really? He's not
that... I thought he was so famous that everybody
knew him. Like, I don't follow baseball particularly,
but I know in Asia he's a huge deal. So, maybe
you're the one... You guys in Australia just
need to get on the Otani wagon. Kind of slipped
our radar a little bit, but he's a big star,
right? Yes. Right. So, yeah. So, where to get
into? I guess it's the case involving Matthew
Boyer, Because this one's really going to rumble
on, it seems. This one's the one that's got
legs and is going to continue into further
detail. The accusations levelled against him
are exactly. I mean, just running an underground
sports betting ring with like tons of clients
in the Nevada Game Control Board. He also allegedly
went to other hosts at Resorts World and are
like, Hey, do you have anybody who's looking
for an illegal bookie? Which is just a ballsy
thing to say. So, yeah, he's facing. charges,
that case is kind of ongoing. Well, he did plead
guilty actually, he pled guilty earlier this
month. So, he's gonna go to prison on you know,
illegal gambling, money laundering, subscribing
a false tax return and you know, we're talking
millions and millions and millions of dollars.
Like Mizuhara alone wagered like 40 million
dollars worth of wagers with him. So, that's
one person.
And those are the implications for the for some
of the individuals anyway, in terms of Sibela
and Boya. But in terms of the implications for
the resort, do we have any clarity on just
how significant they could be? I don't know
what they're going to do to them, man, but
it's got to be big. Right. I mean, this is like
basic one on one stuff, fundamentals that you
should know about approving clients and money
laundering. For those who don't realize like
how serious this gets taken. In Nevada, I'm
gonna use this example, in Nevada, weed is
legal. Like you can go buy it at dispensaries
and stuff and it's fine. If a dispensary wants
to like rent a space in a casino or put on a
convention in a casino, the casino can't take
their money because it's considered drug money.
Oh, wow. So, like that's how the bank laws
are here. There's massive amounts of rules and
stuff that you have to follow and this wasn't
just oh there was an oversight or oh he misled
us, this was, we never got the paperwork we
were supposed to. And then there are two other
people that are named in the Genting complaint,
Edwin Ting and Chad Iwamoto. Both of these guys
are convicted gambling felons and they did
not get the due diligence on their line of credit
despite any basic search. I mean, you could
just like honestly, you Google Edwin Ting gambling,
numerous stories crop up about the illegal
gambling poker ring he was in gambling ring
he was a part of. I remember reporting on it
in the poker world back in the day. This isn't
some like obscure charge. So, the fact that
Sibela and the folks at Resorts World seem to
have like an institutional problem where it's
like just turn a blind eye to this money. They
got caught. Who knows if other people are doing
this. Maybe this is par for the course. I would
hope in a regulated environment, it's not.
Working with the World Series of Poker and how
much we had to deal with, like transfers of
funds from people from other countries. I can
tell you it's a very onerous process. So I
think this is abnormal. But I mean, this is
massive, massive failings. So. The Nevada Gaming
Control Board has registered the complaint.
There's going to be an investigation. There's
going to be a process. If it's found that everything
they found to be true is true and Resorts World,
you know, fails to challenge it adequately,
the record fine for a Nevada casino, I believe,
is $20 million. So, I mean, do you go even,
I would think you either, you go higher. I
think there's reasonable, there's probably at
least one conversation at NGCB or, you know,
with the regulators of, does this casino deserve
a license? Yeah. I think once you build like
a two billion dollar property and stuff, like
it gets complicated. You know, you put that
kind of investment in jobs. You don't want to
put those people out of a job and that sort
of thing. But like that is the level of how
bad this failing was is that, you know, these
are basic fundamentals that people with a gaming
license should never be doing. So what can
we do to punish you that really makes you feel
it? And you've kind of hinted at one of my
questions there about whether this was kind
of one rotten apple in Sibela just running
amok or whether this was kind of an institutional
problem and that the whole place had a toxic
vibe about it. But I did want to ask you as
well about Edwin Ting. You mentioned him there.
Obviously such a prevalent... figure such a
prevalent name when it comes to illegal gambling.
What did his case, his case has really turned
up the heat for Resorts World. What did it
involve in terms of what he was doing with Resorts
World? Same thing as Matthew Boyer. So all
three, they're all named in the same complaint
together. OK. Which is essentially 300,000,
they extended him a $300,000 line of credit,
despite having no proof that this man has a
job. Like, so. To do that when he has the background
that he does, it did seem, it looks like that
after about two months, they did trespass him
and stop denying credit to him. Oh no, they
didn't trespass him, just kidding. Two months
later, the casino denied all credit to Ting.
But later he got a $500,000 credit in March,
2023, which you can't give to somebody. If
you're a convicted gambling felon, you're not
allowed to get like, half a million dollars
in line of credit from a casino. So same thing
for Chad Iwamoto. It's just all three of these
guys, basically the complaint is like any idiot
should know that this money is not clean. Yeah.
And but they were all, they were spread over
a time, like an extended timeline or were they
all kind of... So the casino has only been open
since 2021. You know, I think that... This
is all kind of taken place over the two years
since the casino was open up until early October
2023 when Scott Sabella was abruptly dismissed.
You know, at the time, I recall being on this
podcast and kind of speculating, is it because
they found out what had happened at MGM? But
it sure seems like based on this complaint and
the timing of things, that this is when the
failings of the AML were really being uncovered.
And so it seems, although it's not been stated
explicitly, that he was fired for this stuff.
Yep. Okay. And what I'm not asking you kind
of a judiciary opinion, but what do those sentences
look like? Do you know what those, do we have
any inkling as to what type of sentences they
could get? Who? It seems, so Sibela, I guess,
would be the first one that comes to mind, kind
of the spearhead. He got one year of probation.
you know, real rinky dink. And then he could
have gotten up to five years in prison. Mizuhara,
he's looking at like 30 years in prison, potentially.
And then Boyer, I think because there's so
many complaints here, I'm not positive off the
top of my head what he's facing, but it's probably
going to be prison time. Like, Sibela got a
slap on the wrist. I believe like 30 people
turned in letters of support to like limit how
much he went to prison, which doesn't always
sway a court, you know, but he He certainly
has some friends. Yes If he ever works in a
casino again, I would be very shocked though
Okay, so you think the chances of him popping
up in our industry again are very unlikely or
is he? going to be like a bad smell that keeps
kind of rearing. I mean, you're the guy to blame
for two huge money laundering scandals that
I don't know how you, I mean, maybe you can
go work in the food court or something, but
I don't think you're going to go be like an
executive somewhere. Yeah, you would hope so,
right? You would hope so that name is kind of
tainted now for that sector, for any high risk
sector as well. And something else you kind
of mentioned when you said any idiot could...
could have seen with these names coming in.
Obviously, Sibela was the head of the casino,
but there were a lot of moving parts to run
in a casino. Who exactly else, what other roles
within the casino could have kind of put a stop
to this, or were they overrun, or yeah, how
did that work, or was the whole casino kind
of in on it? So in the complaint, it says that
certain unnamed executives had the ability to
unilaterally just grant lines of credit and
skip due process. They don't say if it's Sabella,
they don't say if it's head of VIP, they don't
say. So somebody at a high level was given the
green light to abandoned protocols in a way.
And I would think that you don't get that green
light as an executive unless Scott Sabella
says,
That's really interesting and I guess it's really
important as well because, you know, all these
people that, you know, may well have been kind
of doing the due diligence and doing their
job correctly, they found a process to potentially
bypass all these people and, yeah, go their
own road to getting, you know, to getting these
lines of credit. And yeah, I guess the other
question which we've kind of touched on, but...
If these are true, if these allegations are
true and there really are these extensive failings
by such a significant Vegas property and a
global casino brand as well, is Isabella just
kind of this toxic apple, this rotten apple,
this bad egg or do we think there's a problem
with the whole process of giving credit to
high rollers? Is this going to indicate a change
for... for that process and that side of the
industry, if you like. The problem with VIPs
is that one VIP can really make a huge difference
to your balance sheet. Case in point, earlier
this year for a while, Points Bet Casino was
second place in New Jersey, which it had never
really been that high. Then DraftKings, took
back over the second place spot and the rumors
have been that it's because one customer flipped
over to points bet and then flipped back. So,
I think that we, I've said many times to friends,
I may have said on here, I'm waiting for the
day there is a massive VIP responsible gambling
scandal with a regulated. online casino or casino.
These guys were illegal bookies. What we haven't
seen is somebody who we find out that they very
clearly had a problem and that the casino enabled
them. It's interesting. There's a lawsuit pending
in the appeals court with Sam Antar and Bet
MGM where an interesting interpretation by the
judge of the casino laws there is just that
like the casinos under no responsibility to
keep you from gambling even though it's a bad
idea. Which I understand from a liability perspective
but like is it a bad look? Yeah, it's a bad
look. So, I think this is about as big a money
laundering scandal as we've ever seen. I think
the fact that this guy was like high up at two
different major casinos, I'm curious, you know,
sometimes huge fines get mentioned in other
jurisdictions. Resorts World and Gentane certainly
operate in other places. So I think that fallout
might be interesting. I think it's gonna be,
it's also just a tough look for the regulated
industry, right? You know, to get in front
of operators and say, we need to pay less taxes
and we need to have fewer restrictions and
we need to be able to do xyz otherwise they're
gonna go to the office. the offshore market
or the illegal market. And then to then turn
around and have this where it's like, well,
the good news is we had those people round up
that money and we're gonna get it back by wandering
out. It's just to actually like embrace the
people that you claim are so awful is a terrible
look. Yeah, it's a dreadful look. And I do think
that there are potentially wider implications
for the operates involved and for the industry
as well. The state of the VIP scheme as well,
as you mentioned the social responsibility angle
of the VIP scheme that really not some, not
now but a few years ago in the UK that really
reared its head and yeah, it came to light
and you know, we don't really have a VIP scheme
anymore and I've had numerous conversations
with people from North America who've said that
the current state of the VIP scheme for operators
is unsustainable. Something needs to be done
there. And the story you told of points bet,
I think kind of underlines that. Yeah, it's
a strange balance. We'll see how these kinds
of things go. I think you're always going to
have high rollers. You're always going to have
people who want to bet really large sums of
money. I don't think that's going anywhere.
But the scrutiny on the group of people that
oversee those people might be tightening down
on the future. Yeah, 100 percent. And. Just
to round us off, I guess the wider implications
for North America and for the gambling industry,
could this be a bit of a stain on the industry
or could it be a watershed moment? Pretty sure
it's a stain, you know? This is bad, bad. I
mean, reading the complaint that you would then
like, oh, by the way, not only did you not
verify what job I do, but also let my wife be
in charge of me. Yeah. really major failings.
It's a bad, bad look for Vegas casinos. Like
I said earlier, you have to hope that this
is not the norm and that other casinos are really
upset that this is the look. I think what will
really determine how much this has a lasting
impact is what Nevada regulators decide to
do about it. And that remains to be seen. But
when it happens, you know where to find all
of the information.
the source to that. And my closer would actually
be based on that. Has this story transcended
to kind of mainstream news and to kind of out
of our bubble a little bit? How big is the
bubble being on this story? And is that going
to get bigger as the regulators come down on
the operators off the back of it? There are
lots of sports media covering various aspects
of this story because of the Otani angle. This
is obviously a huge story at the local Nevada
news level. You know what, even some of my Bravo
head friends are interested in this because
the boyfriend of one of the real housewives
of Orange County has been implicated in this.
So, yeah, this is bigger than just, you know,
industry news. You're going to have to enlighten
me on a Bravo head. I have never heard. Bravo
is the channel that has all the housewives
here. Ah, OK. So. So you're like obsessed with
Bravo, a Bravo head. My mom and sisters are
Bravo headstand. They love them shows. I don't
know what they're seeing. Well, maybe they'll
even follow this story because he's involved.
They might know. Well, yeah, a really crazy
story and it's gonna continue to unfold. It's
gonna get bigger and yeah, we see what happens.
We see the implications for the industry. Jess,
thank you ever so much for providing us your
insight on this one. I appreciate it. Thanks
for manning the ship. Thank you. Thanks for
listening, everyone.