Resorts World Las Vegas President and CFO Carlos Castro promised Nevada gaming regulators that the casino is focused on “compliance over commerce” and rebuilding its culture in the aftermath of getting fined $10.5 million for catering to an illegal bookmaker.
Castro, who took over his role in February 2025, will be up for a license March 26 when he appears before the Nevada Gaming Commission. The Nevada Gaming Control Board last week recommended Castro be approved.
“I’m proud of where we are now compared to where we were,” Castro said. “It is the intangibles that you have to fix first. It’s the leadership team and people that sit in that leadership meeting and look you in the eye and say I’m not going to let you down. I’ve strived to rebuild that leadership team for ‘compliance first.’ That is a very clear directive from the (board of directors).”
Castro said the senior leadership team built a plan around addressing anti-money laundering and stopping it before it begins.
“It’s knowing who we’re going to do business with and if they don’t meet the criteria, they don’t get an opportunity to gamble with us,” Castro said. “They are either placed on a gaming ban or if it’s egregious, it’s a full property ban.”
When they reorganized the leadership group, Castro said the culture was “very casino-host-centric.” The hosts made decisions and weren’t questioned, because they were driving business to the property.
“We’ve completely broken down the silos,” Castro said. “Casino marketing, operations, surveillance all speak openly with compliance. If there is any question, you need to bring it to compliance.”
Board Chair Mike Dreitzer said given Castro’s background, there’s no question about his suitability for the job.
“You have in these last 12 months shown that you’re making all the necessary changes, with the support from the (board of directors) and ownership consistent with the input we’ve received over the last several hearings,” Dreitzer said. “I’m seeing substantive and thoughtful change. You recognized that you had a fair amount of challenges to overcome and required some heavy lifting. There is substantial evidence to show you walk the walk and talk the talk and have gone hard yards to do what was needed.”
Board member George Assad said he wished Castro had been at the property when it opened in 2021, so it could have avoided any scandals. He said the Gaming Control Board isn’t just police and prosecutors, but wants to work with operators to improve the industry.
“This was a new property that needed some guidance,” Assad said. “We were able to structure a plan moving forward and institute some new measures. Some people had to be separated from the company and some new people had to be brought in. Obviously, a board had to be brought in that was local instead of communicating with the folks in Malaysia (with parent company Genting Berhad). That’s a positive side.”
Board member Chandeni Sendall called the drastic improvement over the past year “remarkable. There was a lot to learn and the company has done that.”
In response to a question from Dreitzer about any financial challenges the property has faced, Castro said he’s confident about the north end of the Strip and praised Wynn and Fontainebleau for helping make the area the “new epicenter for Las Vegas.”
Castro also talked about his desire to have an arena on the Resorts World site. “Rising tides lift all boats, and we want to raise the tide of the north Strip,” Castro said.
