The Venetian Las Vegas has agreed to pay a $7.2 million fine for its dealings with illegal bookmaker Matthew Bowyer. The Venetian is the fifth Strip resort to be snared in money-laundering investigations and violations.
This case is subject to be voted on when the Nevada Gaming Commission meets July 23. Bowyer has been added to the state’s Black Book, excluding him from casinos.
Last year, four Strip casinos were fined a combined $32 million related to money laundering: Resorts World Las Vegas ($10.5 million), MGM Resorts International ($8.5 million), Caesars Entertainment ($7.8 million), and Wynn Resorts ($5.5 million). The first three involved dealings with illegal bookmakers; Wynn was fined for unregistered international money transfers.
Bowyer, the convicted bookie for the now-imprisoned interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers’s superstar Shohei Ohtani, operated an illegal gambling business for at least five years until October 2023 and at times had more than 700 bettors, including Ippei Mizuhara, the Japanese interpreter. Bower pleaded guilty in August 2024 to operating an unlawful gambling business, money laundering, and filing a false tax return.
The complaint filed by the Nevada Gaming Control Board accused the Venetian of the same allegations as Resorts World and Caesars faced in allowing Bowyer to play at their properties and that information of suspicious activity was disregarded.
“The Board further found that the Venetian failed to fulfill its obligations as a holder of privileged Nevada gaming approvals and caused damage to the reputation of the state of Nevada and Nevada’s gaming industry.”
The complaint said Bowyer was a patron of the Venetian from 1999 until March 2024 when he was banned, after receiving reports he was an illegal bookmaker.
In 2019 when Bowyer wanted to return to the property after a two-year hiatus, a vice president of player development raised past concerns about his source of funds. But the Venetian compliance department said they found no information that prevented him from playing at the casino.
Also according to the complain, Bowyer represented his income as $500,000 to $1 million and a net worth exceeding $5 million as the owner of a synthetic turf grass business. Despite suspicions, the Venetian received a $1 million cashier’s check from Bowyer and allowed him to gamble. From 2019 through 2021, Bowyer made 30 trips to the Venetian and put up $22.3 million, wagered millions, and lost $3.6 million to the property. In 2022, Bowyer played less, losing $137,500 and winning $49,000.
The complaint noted that the Venetian, owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corp. before selling it to Apollo Global Management in February 2022, returned $47.4 million to the federal government in 2013 for failure to file suspicious activity reports in an unrelated case. The Venetian was fined $2 million.
Bowyer was a patron of Caesars from 2017 to January 2024, which stopped only after the FBI executed a search warrant on his home. Resorts World Las Vegas was fined after being accused of a culture that welcomed individuals, including Bowyer, with suspected ties to illegal bookmaking.
