Caesars Becomes 3rd Vegas Casino Company to Pay Millions for Same Illegal Bookie’s Gambling

Caesars Becomes 3rd Vegas Casino Company to Pay Millions for Same Illegal Bookie’s Gambling

The Nevada Gaming Commission punished Caesars Entertainment this week for anti-money laundering violations involving illicit bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, making it the third Las Vegas casino operator this year.

The Nevada Gaming Commission will get $7.8 million from the Reno-based firm, which runs eight casino resorts on the Strip, for permitting Bowyer to gamble for years in spite of internal warnings and high-risk indicators.

It comes after MGM Resorts International agreed to pay $8.5 million in April 2025, and Resorts World, together with parent company Genting Berhad, was fined $10.5 million in March 2025. In all three instances, executives in authority disregarded internal AML protocols and let Bowyer to wager at the casinos for years.

Bowyer gained and lost millions at the following Caesars facilities, according to a five-count, twenty-one-page complaint filed on Thursday and dated November 10.

• Caesars Palace
• Harrah’s Resort Southern California
• Harveys Lake Tahoe (now Caesars Republic Lake Tahoe)

On November 20, the Nevada Gaming Commission will hold a public hearing to decide whether to approve the settlement.

The Shohei Ohtani case revolved upon Bowyer, 50, who took over $325 million in bets from Ippei Mizuhara, the Japanese translator found guilty of stealing an estimated $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers' designated hitter and part-time pitcher.

In October, Bowyer started his one-year sentence in federal prison.

As early as 2017, Caesars identified the imprisoned bookmaker as high risk, but they "failed to substantiate Bowyer's source of funds and/or that his source of funds was consistent with his level of play," according to the new complaint.

Caesars did not prohibit Bowyer until January 2024.

The Complaint

“The Board’s investigation revealed that Caesars and/or its subsidiary properties, including Caesars Palace, had identified, as early as April 2017 and on multiple subsequent occasions until he was banned by Caesars, suspicions regarding Bowyer’s activities, including that there was a lack of information regarding his source of funds and/or that his source of funds failed to justify his level of play,” the complaint reads.

Caesars was accused on the following five counts:

• Failure to establish Bowyer’s source of funds
• Failure to ban Bowyer
• Failure to conduct adequate due diligence on Bowyer after receiving negative information
• Failure to elevate Bowyer to Caesars’ AML officer
• Failure to conduct an investigation

In response, Caesars issued the following statement, stating that it will neither acknowledge nor refute any of the accusations made against it under the conditions of the settlement:

“At Caesars Entertainment, integrity and regulatory compliance are paramount. We fully cooperated with the Nevada Gaming Control Board throughout its investigation and are committed to maintaining strong anti-money laundering and ‘know your customer’ programs. We take our compliance responsibilities seriously and are dedicated to continuously strengthening our practices to meet and exceed the highest standards.”

Vegas didn't require this

This year's most recent setback to Vegas' business brand is undesirable at a time when tourism fell 11% between June 2024 and June 2025.

Fontainebleau is allegedly being investigated for potential Bowyer connections, and Wynn Las Vegas was fined $5.5 million for unrelated anti-money laundering problems.