Saying he’s lived through a nightmare and is considered a pariah, abandoned by friends and colleagues, Scott Sibella cast blame on MGM Resorts International for turning a blind eye for years to bookmakers.
The former Las Vegas casino executive, who pled guilty to failing to report an illegal bookmaker gambling at the MGM Grand while he was its president, claimed that casino hosts took kickbacks for catering to illegal bookmaker Wayne Nix without being punished, unlike himself.
After a 25-minute hearing, the Nevada Gaming Commission voted 3-0 to revoke Sibella’s license under a settlement agreement with the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Since it’s dated from the end of 2023, following his federal guilty plea, Sibella is allowed to seek reinstatement four years from now.
Most recently president and COO of Resorts World Las Vegas, Sibella was president and COO of the MGM Grand in 2018, the year the federal government charged him with not knowing the source of a customer’s funds and failing to file a suspicious activity report (SAR).
In May, a federal judge sentenced Sibella to one year’s probation and fined him $9,500. As part of the settlement, he agreed to reimburse the Nevada Gaming Control Board $10,000 for its investigation of him. The Board’s 41-page complaint cited Sibella’s guilty plea for accepting $120,000 in cash from Nix (who was convicted in 2022 of operating an illegal sportsbook) and “deliberately avoided” the source of funds with which he redeemed his marker with MGM.
In its complaint, the Board said Sibella knew about Nix’s illegal bookmaking, yet allowed him to gamble and authorized him to receive complimentaries at the casino, including meals, room, and golf trips with senior executives to further encourage Nix to patronize the casino and affiliated properties.
Mike Somps, a senior deputy attorney general, said Thursday’s action also covers Sibella’s tenure at Resorts World. The Gaming Control Board also filed a complaint against that property in August, alleging it had “allowed a culture that welcomed certain individuals with suspected or actual ties to illegal bookmaking, histories of federal felony convictions related to illegal gambling businesses, and ties to organized crime.”
Sibella, appearing before the Commission via Zoom (he lives out of state and has travel limitations from his federal conviction), said it was important for him to explain the facts and circumstances that led to the plea agreement for failing to file a SAR.
“When I was president of the MGM Grand, MGM Resorts at the corporate level performed all compliance functions,” Sibella said. “I did receive training regarding suspicious activity reports, as well as other anti-money-laundering matters. I was not, however, part of the compliance department. I never attended a compliance meeting or had any input with the compliance committee at MGM whatsoever.”
Sibella called Nix a “preferred customer” of MGM Resorts who gambled at various MGM properties, but not at the MGM Grand at the time the incident occurred.
The marketing department sponsored golfing trips with preferred gamblers, MGM corporate executives, and casino hosts and Sibella said he was designated as the host of these outings, which is how he got to know Nix. He said he bet on golf with Nix and made gentleman bets on sporting events, like the other executives.
“When I first met Mr. Nix, he’d already been well established at MGM Resorts for almost three years and I had no idea he was a bookmaker,” Sibella said. “I only knew that he gambled on credit given to him by MGM Resorts’s credit department. I relied on the fact that he was vetted on his occupation and credit by both the credit department and compliance.”
Sibella said he golfed with Nix a couple of times in Las Vegas and ultimately learned he was an ex-baseball player, developer, and business owner, in addition to being a bookmaker. Although he made what he called “gentleman bets” with Nix, there was never a vig. He didn’t have an account and wasn’t a customer.
“I did not procure customers for him and I didn’t authorize any comps he didn’t otherwise earn through his gambling activities within MGM’s guidelines,” Sibella said. “Nor did I allow Mr. Nix to pay his markers with cash. I had no knowledge of how and when he paid his markers.”
Sibella went on to say he “understood” that MGM hosts received kickbacks and assisted Nix in his endeavors.
“Those people have gone unprosecuted as far as I’m aware. All of their alleged conduct was more egregious than mine. They personally benefited financially from their conduct. I received no personal benefit of any kind for my conduct. Nonetheless, I was an easy target. I was the president of a Las Vegas Strip hotel and federal prosecutors in Los Angeles wanted to send a message, loud and clear, that the failure by casinos and their executives to comply with anti-money-laundering laws would not be tolerated.”
Sibella said he now recognizes that his failure to file SARs was a violation of the law and accepted responsibility for that. He added that never in his career did he cause an SAR to be filed and is not aware of any hotel president doing so, because it’s something that is left up to compliance.
“I have set forth these facts and circumstances to let this Commission understand the culture in which my failure occurred,” Sibella said. “You don’t have to take my word for it. You only need to look and see that since this investigation into these issues, MGM Resorts 86ed any bookmakers that had been gambling in its casinos, some of them for more than 20 years.”
While the complaint against him focuses on his failure to file an SAR at the MGM Grand in 2018, Sibella questioned why no one else has been targeted by the Gaming Control Board and federal government.
“I have spent my entire career dedicated to the gaming industry and betterment of Las Vegas. I have sat on various boards and committees all aimed at improving the Las Vegas community. I have developed programs and internships at UNLV. Once I was celebrated and now I’m a pariah.” Sibella paused as he appeared to get slightly emotional. “Casino-executive colleagues and friends won’t even reach out to me and have caused my family to suffer. I’m m pained by the knowledge that I have to leave the industry that I love.
“At 62 years old, I know I’m still capable of serving the industry in appropriate capacities,” Sibella said. “These last two years have been a complete nightmare for me and my family. Published reports have labeled me as a dishonest, lying, sneaky, terrible person who committed a heinous crime. I’m the only person in the gaming business to be charged with not filing an SAR that has no motive or personal benefit. In case you don’t know, I lost everything overnight. But after today’s hearing, I can now begin to receive closure. Of course, I’ll live with this the rest of my life, but after today there will be no more courts, hearings, meetings, attorneys, or judges. I can now move on and enter the next chapter of my life.”
Sibella thanked the Commission for his gaming license and senior-executive positions for more than 30 years. He said he enjoyed working in the industry and that agreeing to a settlement to surrender his license is “part of a last act of dignity.”
Commissioner Abbi Silver recused herself from consideration as a long-standing friend of Sibella’s.
Commissioner George Markantonis thanked Sibella for appearing, saying he understands how difficult it must be on him.
“You were relying on your own compliance team members or even corporate team members for support and guidance and quite frankly, they let you down, sir,” Markantonis said. “This is a statement to all of them and not to you. If there’s any good to come out of this for the industry, it’s that C-suite executives and ownership should take note of the fact that Nevada’s compliance status is not negotiable and all of these organizations should make sure that they have strong compliance.”
Commissioner Brian Krolicki told Sibella he knows how excruciating this has been for him, but pointed out he and others are there as regulators to make sure the standards of the gaming industry are “perfectly adhered to,” because the state’s “reputation and viability” are at stake.
Commission Chair Jennifer Togliatti, a former judge, wasn’t as sympathetic.
“Such is life,” Togliatti said. “That’s what happens in criminal courtrooms every day and it’s just the way it is. The attorney general’s office has tried to be consistent and measured and fair, and I put a lot of trust in that. Both the AG and Board worked together to take the 30,000-foot view and reach a resolution. I’m not going to stand in the way of that. I’m going to support this.”
