The ongoing investigation by federal and state authorities and gaming regulators in Nevada and California into the scandal centered on the interpreter for LA Dodger star Shohei Ohtani has produced new developments in the form of official complaints logged against Resorts World Las Vegas and one of its VIP hosts. The sprawling matter includes allegations serious enough to threaten Resorts World's operating license.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board has released the complaints filed against Resorts World LV and Nicole Bowyer, an independent agent licensed by the Nevada Gaming Commission, who contracted with Resorts World to serve as a VIP host. Bowyer is the wife of southern California illegal-bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, who took millions of dollars in wagers from Ippei Mizuhara, the ex-interpreter for Ohtani who stole those millions of dollars from Ohtani.
Mizuhara was one of hundreds of underground bettors who wagered through Bowyer, who in turn frequently placed large sports bets at Resorts World LV. Bowyer also laundered funds through other casinos, including Pechanga Casino & Resort in southern California. Last week, Bowyer, 49, pled guilty to charges of running an illegal gambling business, money laundering, and subscribing to a false tax return. He will be sentenced in February of 2025.
Nevada connection key component of Bowyer's enterprise
Since sports betting remains illegal in California, Mathew Bowyer needed other places to place oversized wagers. According to Nevada regulators, he received a welcome from Resorts World LV to place the action there. The 31-page complaint against the casino alleges that certain individuals were able to place large wagers there for many months because the casino ignored its own anti-money laundering (AML) duties.
"The [NGCB] investigation revealed that there exists an overall lack of control within Resorts World and acceptance among Resorts World executives of a culture where information of suspicious or illegal activity is, at a minimum, negligently disregarded, or at worst, willfully ignored for financial gain," the complaint asserts, while also noting that the casino's executive bonuses depend in large part on how profitable the casino is.
"The Board's investigation further revealed that Resorts World failed to fulfill its obligations as the holder of a privileged Nevada gaming license and caused damage to the reputation of the State of Nevada and Nevada's gaming industry."
AML compliance missing in action
In Mathew Bowyer's instance, Resorts World barely bothered in its attempts to determine the source of the millions of dollars he was wagering. Bowyer first applied for the privilege of depositing $1 million in front money for wagering purposes in December of 2021. Bowyer claimed to be a real-estate investor, but the casino's background check could not determine the legitimacy of his business or the source of his funds. Nonetheless, Bowyer was allowed to deposit $1 million in February of 2022, the first of many large transactions, and he was categorized as "medium risk". Over the time Bowyer was allowed to gamble at Resorts World, he lost roughly $8 million.
Resorts World's AML Committee didn't conduct its first audit of Bowyer until July of 2022. That followed a month where Bowyer lost over $640,000 on wagers of nearly $5.2 million. A cage director told the AML committee that Bowyer was a "known bookie", and that his wife Nicole's role as Mathew's VIP host was cover for his action.
The casino's AML team conducted similar audits in August of 2022 and February and March of 2023. Despite being obligated by law to take action, the casino did nothing until Bowyer was finally banned in October of 2023. That's the month that investigators raided Bowyer's SoCal home, seizing computers and other equipment and documents, which also helped drive the investigation into Ohtani's interpreter's criminal actions.
The NGCB complaint also asks for monetary penalties to be levied against Resorts World LV, and though any fine is likely to be a negotiated matter, the settlement amount could be considerable. The complaint also asserts that Resorts World's operating licenses may be subject to revocation and that the NGC may also consider naming a supervisor for the entirety of the casino's gaming operations.
Edwin Ting, poker, and Russian mobsters
Bowyer wasn't the only person with an illegal-gambling background who was allowed to wager at Resorts World. A press statement issued by the NGCB names two of these other accepted bettors, Edwin Ting and Chad Iwamoto, both of whom had previous felony convictions related to illegal gambling. Ting, despite a 2014 gambling conviction (below), was initially denied a $500,000 credit line by Resorts World but was later granted that credit, despite his criminal history.
Ting has a prominent poker background, having been the operator of the infamous Trump Tower high-stakes poker games run by Russian mobsters and controlled by Vadim Trincher, who won the 2009 Foxwoods Poker Classic for more than $700,000. Trincher was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in heading up several New York City gambling operations.
The ring's 'boss of bosses', Alimzhan 'Taiwanchik' Tokhtakhunov, has been a fugitive from American justice for many years. Among other alleged crimes, Tokhtakhunov remains accused of being the fixer behind the corrupted figure-skating competition at the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics. Besides the illegal poker and sports-betting operations, the 'Taiwanchik-Trincher' cases involved more than 30 defendants and also included money laundering, extortion, and other alleged illegal activities. (This writer covered the Taiwanchik-Trincher stories extensively at a now largely-forgotten site, Flushdraw.net, for several years.)
Bowyer requested his wife be made his VIP host
High-roller bettors receive many perks from casinos, and the biggest VIPs are assigned personal hosts. Just five months after his first million-dollar deposit, Bowyer requested that his wife Nicole be made his VIP host, and it was at that point that Bowyer's outsized wagering began. Resorts World agreed to the request despite still being unable to determine the source of Bowyer's funds.
The arrangement was mutually profitable. As Mather Bowyer's VIP host, Nicole Bowyer received a percentage of her husband's losses. In a separate 10-page complaint against Nicole Bowyer, the NGCB asserts that she collected nearly $700,000 in payments derived from gambling losses incurred by Bowyer and other gamblers who were described as his "entourage".
Following the raid on Bowyer's home, Resorts World RV terminated Nicole Bowyer's hosting agreement and trespassed her from the property. She subsequently did not respond to three separate contact attempts made by the casino related to the NGCB's investigation. The NGCB hopes to assess monetary penalties against Nicole Bowyer while also addressing her status as a Nevada-licensed agent.
Two other RWLV hosts were also accused of having knowledge of Mathew Bowyer being a well-known underground bookie but were not named in the complaints. One of the hosts told Resorts World's AML Committee that he believed it was widely understood by casino management that Bowyer ran his own book, and that it was accepted by the casino's brass.
