Three Strip casino operators agreed to pay state gaming regulators a combined $26.8 million in fines this year to settle violations of federal anti-money laundering laws associated with the gambling activities of illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer.

The third agreement was approved on Thursday. 

The Nevada Gaming Commission approved a settlement agreement with Caesars Entertainment in which the casino operator will pay a $7.8 million fine to cover a five-count complaint after the state gaming agents found Bowyer had gambled millions of dollars at Caesars Palace and several of the company’s other Strip properties over seven years.

The Gaming Commission voted 4-1 in favor of the settlement, with member Rosa Solis-Rainey voting no because she didn’t believe the amount was “on par” with previous agreements.

The fine followed $10.5 million paid by Resorts World Las Vegas in March and $8.5 million from MGM Resorts International in April over violations of anti-money laundering laws, where Bowyer was one of the key figures.

Commissioner Brian Krolicki called Bowyer a “wrecking ball that continues to leave havoc” on Strip resort compliance plans. Commissioner George Markantonis said, “Our industry has taken a bruising by one individual.”

The Gaming Control Board determined Bowyer wagered and lost “millions of dollars” with Caesars between 2017 and 2024, including more than $3 million in 2017. The board noted that Caesars decided to ban Boyer from its properties in January 2024 following news of his arrest for illegal bookmaking activities. 

Caesars CEO Tom Reeg told the commission the Bowyer matter “has been a stain on the state” and “we're embarrassed that we're a part of it.” Reeg added that Caesars would “never sacrifice compliance for revenue. There is no customer that's worth illegitimate profits. We didn't catch Bowyer, and we should have.”

In comments supporting the settlement, Control Board Chairman Mike Dreitzer said the amount of the fine is three times the total that Caesars won from Bowyer over the seven years.

“Any notion or concern that Caesars will somehow benefit net of a fine amount is absolutely not the case,” Dreitzer said.

Dreitzer, who has been board chairman for four months and was not a member of the panel when settlements were reached with Resorts World and MGM, told the commission that Caesars removed several executives and took steps to beef up compliance practices.

Dreitzer said the fine amount took into consideration the 2020 change in Caesars' ownership. The company was purchased by Reno-based Eldorado Resorts for $17.3 billion, and the Eldorado team took over the name and operations long after a relationship had begun with Bowyer.

“They had already inherited a significant portion of this,” Dreitzer said of the business from Bowyer. “That's not an excuse. That is just another factor in how we reached the [fine amount].”

At the hearing, Caesars representatives said the company implemented enhancements to its anti-money laundering programs, including training and employee awareness. The anti-money laundering team was increased in size, and the company is spending twice as much as it did seven years ago to bolster compliance. 

Caesars Chairman Gary Carano, whose family founded Eldorado Resorts, apologized for the company’s role in the Bowyer matter. He said his father, Don Carano, helped write Nevada’s first gaming compliance plans when he was a gaming lawyer in the 1970s. 

“We will do everything possible to prevent us from coming before you ever again,” Carano said.

Black Book for Bowyer?

In 2024, Bowyer pleaded guilty to federal charges of running an illegal gambling business, money laundering and filing a false tax return, The Associated Press reported. He was also ordered to pay the IRS more than $1.6 million in restitution. Bowyer was sentenced Aug. 29 to 12 months and one day in prison that began Oct. 10 at the low-security Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc, California. 

His case made headlines worldwide after it was revealed he had taken thousands of bets from the Japanese interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Bowyer cooperated with IRS and Department of Homeland Security agents and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California in their investigation.

The guilty plea resulted from his operation of what the government said was “an unlicensed and illegal bookmaking business that focused on sports betting and violated a California law that prohibits bookmaking.”

One question that didn’t come up Thursday was whether Bowyer would be included in the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s List of Excluded Persons, which is commonly referred to as the “Black Book.”  The control board nominates a person, and the Gaming Commission holds a hearing and then votes on the inclusion. The nominee can contest the action.

The Black Book formally bans a person for life from entering a casino anywhere in the state. The list is much shorter than ones maintained by individual companies, such as Caesars, for which one company executive told the commission that it maintains a list of more than 7,000 banned individuals.

Retired gaming attorney and gaming law professor Tony Cabot said he wasn’t sure placing Bowyer in the Black Book would accomplish much. 

“Every casino by now knows who he is and would keep him out,” Cabot said. “I wouldn’t think he has any reason to come back to Nevada.” 

There are just 37 names in the Black Book because a person’s name is removed once they die. The last person named to the list was Neal Ahmad Hearne of North Las Vegas in April 2024 after he was caught stealing chips from more than a dozen casinos in Southern Nevada.