On Wednesday, January 24, 2024, Scott Sibella pleaded guilty in federal court to failing to file “suspicious activity reports.” The alleged suspicious activity related to the gambling activities of Wayne Nix. It seems that Nix ran an illegal sports betting operation and used the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where Sibella was president at the time, to launder his ill-gotten gains.
One does not need to allege that Nix was an illegal bookie. He pleaded guilty to illegal gambling and failing to report $1.4 million in income in April 2022. Nix is a former minor-league baseball player who has been a bookie for 20 years with some high-profile athletes as his customers. He apparently not only used casinos to launder his cash, but to entertain his clients. It is not an easy story to understand: any of Nix’s customers could have walked into the casino’s sports book and plunked down their bets. Nix must have been offering something extra.
Nix is easy to understand: he was never able to make it to the big leagues and the big bucks. When he started making book, sports gambling was illegal everywhere in the U.S.A. but Nevada. He saw a path to making the dollars his pitching arm had denied him.
But Scott Sibella is a horse of a different color.
Sibella was a gaming industry professional. He had worked his way into top-level VP positions in the Las Vegas casino business, including with MGM where he encountered Nix. MGM was not the pinnacle of his career; in 2019, Sibella was hired by Resorts World Las Vegas to finish the construction of the $4.3 billion project that had been in the making since 2013. Genting had purchased the site and the skeleton of a casino from Boyd Gaming. It was a troubled project, plagued by recessions, lawsuits, construction issues, and design problems.
Finishing Resorts World and bringing the property online would certainly be a feather in anyone’s cap. Sibella was atop the gaming world when the property opened in June 2021. It was a short reign. In September 2023, Sibella was abruptly fired. At the time, he was under investigation by two federal agencies for his role in Nix’s activities at MGM.
According to numerous media reports, Sibella was aware of Nix’s business, but chose to look the other way. He opted for a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. He told law enforcement officials in 2022 that he “didn’t want to know because of my position… If we know, we can’t allow them to gamble… I didn’t ask, I didn’t want to know, I guess, because he wasn’t doing anything to cheat the casino.”
That policy has proven to be rather expensive for Sibella and MGM. It is expected that Sibella will be fined $250,000, and he faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. MGM has agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine for its role. Sibella not only lost his job, but most likely his career. Although he does not think his gaming career is over. “As this process comes to a conclusion, I look forward to continuing to provide my knowledge, skills, and insights to support the continued growth, evolution, and professionalism of the gaming industry,” Sibella said.
The next question, after the May sentencing hearing for Sibella, will be a license. To hold any of those exalted positions to which he aspires requires a gaming license. Nevada regulators are being rather coy and keeping their cards close to their vest. It is not an issue until Sibella gets a job and applies for a license. Both are reasonably high bars. Not many companies are going to be willing to risk tainting their reputation with regulators by hiring him. And any regulatory agency faced with investing his background will have some very serious questions about what he knew and what he knowingly permitted. Not to mention he will be a felon convicted of gambling-related crime.
That is why this case is a head-scratcher. Why would anyone risk their livelihood and reputation to allow another person to gamble with illegal funds? Sibella knew, as every licensee knows, that conforming to the laws and regulations is a necessary element in holding a gaming license. What was the incentive? No one has accused him of taking bribes, embezzling funds, or any other form of personal enrichment. He was one of the highest-paid executives in Las Vegas. Why would he risk that for Nix or any other gambler? Did he think he was untouchable and could do anything and not be punished?
This same kind of thing has happened in Las Vegas before. Ten years or so ago, Harrah’s was catering to a gambler whose funds were gained illegally. And in the last three years, several casino companies in Australia have also been fined for comparable activities. In all cases, the casino executives involved were not being rewarded sufficiently to make the risk worthwhile. So why would they do it? It is indeed a head-scratcher of the highest degree.
