The Nevada Gaming Control Board announced late Wednesday that its enforcement agents have extradited a most-wanted roulette cheat on felony gaming charges from an Iowa correctional facility.
Shaun Benward of Mississippi, who was added to the Black Book in December 2023, is charged with three felony counts of fraudulent acts and three felony counts of conspiracy to violate the Nevada Gaming Control Act. Benward is alleged to be part of a multi-state casino fraud scheme.
The repeated nature of these alleged offenses and the financial impact on licensed gaming establishments resulted in Benward “becoming one of the NGCB’s highest-priority subjects,” ultimately leading to the issuance of multiple felony warrants for his arrest, according to Kristi Torgerson, chief of the enforcement division.
Prior to these felony counts, Benward was placed onto the NGCB’s List of Excluded Persons after multiple violations of gaming laws in the state and being trespassed from 17 Nevada casinos, Torgerson said. “The NGCB remains fully committed to locating offenders, wherever they may be, to ensure they are brought to justice.”
In November, a Lyon County, Iowa, jury found Benward, 38, guilty of multiple felony charges and in February, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s Special Enforcement Operations Bureau initiated an investigation in 2018 and warrants were issued for his arrest. Benward was located in Mississippi in April 2025 and arrested for five counts of money laundering, a class C felony; five counts of cheating at gambling games, a class D felony; and one count of conspiracy to commit a felony, a class D felony.
In the Nevada Gaming Commission proceedings in December 2023, Senior Deputy Attorney General Michael Somps detailed the case before the Commission voted unanimously for the blacklist.
“Mr. Benward engages in a scheme to defraud casinos while playing roulette, where he essentially claims to have told the dealer to place his chips on the eventual winning number in an effort to fraudulently claim winnings,” Somps said.
Somps said Benward had an extensive history not only in Nevada, but across the country over several years. He has criminal convictions for violating gaming laws of several states, including Pennsylvania, Delaware, Missouri, and Ohio. In addition, Benward has a theft conviction in Indiana. His name is on exclusion lists in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Michigan, and Missouri.
“Those convictions are evidence of Mr. Benward’s notorious and unsavory reputation and importantly, all of those convictions stem from Mr. Benward’s activities where it was alleged he was engaged or attempted to engage in various versions of this roulette scheme,” Somps said.
Benward was investigated in 2017 in southern Nevada casinos, where he was suspected of trying to perpetrate the roulette scheme, but it didn’t lead to charges, Somps said. He was arrested in Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, and Connecticut casinos and an arrest warrant was issued in Rhode Island.
“The Board investigated Mr. Benward for executing his roulette scheme at numerous Las Vegas casinos in July and August of 2020 that led to his ultimate arrest of commission of a fraudulent act at a gaming establishment and conspiracy to cheat at gambling,” Somps said.
Benward pleaded guilty in 2022 to theft and that case was dismissed, with the condition he stay out of trouble, Somps said.
Benward was the subject of a Gaming Control Board intelligence bulletin for his alleged fraudulent activities in June 2023 at Lake Tahoe.
At the time of the Black Book inclusion, Commissioner Brian Krolicki called Benward “very industrious around the country and on Las Vegas Boulevard.” He asked why the case was triggered by Nevada.
Somps said it came after the Control Board focused on Benward in 2020.
Commission Chair Jennifer Togliatti asked if any subject had ever been trespassed from 17 casinos in Nevada. It’s difficult to prosecute someone for trespassing on the Strip when police are dealing with other activities, she said.
“This is an incredible deterrent for the ability to arrest someone and prosecute them for something more than a misdemeanor trespass that would take an act of Congress and our justice system for it to occur for 17 casinos that told him not to come back,” Togliatti said. “You have the frustration of the licensees when they can’t manage keeping these people off property. They trespass and leave and come back the next day with no redress. Not like you would have with a list of excluded persons, a blacklist.”
The offense for a violation is up to one year in county jail.
In December 2016, Iowa gaming enforcement agents and casino staff witnessed Benward commit a series of fraudulent activities at the Grand Falls Casino in Larchwood, Iowa. He manipulated casino staff to secure over $10,000 in improper payouts and avoided IRS reporting requirements by breaking up over $12,000 in transactions, changing his outfit multiple times, and using different tellers to stay undetected. It noted that Benward has been arrested for similar scams throughout the country.
As the Nevada matter involves future court proceedings, no further details are being released at this time, Torgerson said.
