The Nevada Gaming Commission Thursday will consider a recommendation from the Gaming Control Board to place a California man convicted of bookmaking into the state’s Black Book excluding people from casinos.
The Board made the recommendation in December against Wayne Nix, who had ties to MGM Resorts International. The Commission fined MGM $8.5 million for knowingly dealing with an illegal bookmaker as part of an anti-money-laundering case. The MGM Grand took $4 million in cash from Nix, while the Cosmopolitan, which it didn’t operate at the time, booked more than $900,000 in wagers.
The MGM Grand case involved former COO and President Scott Sibella, who in December 2023 pleaded guilty to federal charges of failing to report Nix. His license was revoked by the Nevada Gaming Commission in December 2024.
Nix didn’t appear at December’s hearing. He pleaded guilty in April 2022 to one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business and one count of subscribing to a false tax return and is scheduled to be sentenced March 6.
The Commission at a later date will consider including Matthew Bowyer in the Black Book, based on a recommendation from the Board in January. The illegal bookmaker placed bets with Caesars Entertainment and Resorts World Las Vegas. Caesars was fined $7.8 million and Resorts World $10.5 million.
“We’re not going to tolerate it here in Nevada and this is one way we can change the culture up and down the Strip,” Board member George Assad said in nominating Nix to the Black Book. “Bookmakers have been operating in Nevada for decades, but as long as they stay out of the casinos, I don’t have a problem with it. Once they start operating in the casino structure and launder money or have a good time, it brings such negative publicity that it hurts the entire state and gaming industry.”
Nix is eligible for exclusion, being a convicted felon of crimes of moral turpitude and violating California gaming laws, and he has an unsavory reputation that would affect public confidence and trust that the gaming industry is free from corrupted elements, according to the attorney general’s office.
Nix is accused of accepting bets in California and elsewhere, then traveling to Las Vegas with the proceeds. The cash he carried to Las Vegas was in high-denomination bills in duffle bags, paper bags, and leather purses. He used that cash for his own gambling and for paying off markers, according to the state’s legal counsel.