A former top executive at a significant Las Vegas casino was sentenced to a yr of probation on Wednesday after admitting he allowed an illegal bookmaker to gamble thousands and thousands of dollars on the MGM Grand and repay debts in money.
Scott Sibella pleaded guilty in January to violating federal anti-money laundering rules that required the casino to report suspicious transactions. His sentence was imposed in federal court by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, who also ordered Sibella to pay a $9,500 superb. Gee took into consideration that Sibella, 61, accepted responsibility for his actions, cooperated with investigators and had no criminal record.
Sibella’s lawyers had asked the judge to contemplate probation. They submitted letters of support, including one from Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill, the elected head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
The MGM Grand and the nearby Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas previously settled an identical case arising from a US Department of Justice money laundering investigation. The resorts agreed to pay a complete of $7.45 million, undergo an external review and strengthen their anti-money laundering compliance programs.
Separately, Nevada casino regulators are considering revoking or suspending Sibella’s state gambling license and fining him as much as $750,000. A grievance filed April 30 by State Gaming Control Board investigators has not yet been considered by the Nevada Gaming Commission.
The bookmaker central to Sibella’s case, Wayne Nix, is a former minor league baseball player who lives in Newport Coast, California. He is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in April 2022 to operating an illegal gambling business and filing a false tax return.
Pursuant to his plea agreement with the federal government, Sibella allowed Nix to gamble on the MGM Grand and affiliated properties using illegal gambling proceeds without notifying the casino’s compliance department.
Sibella told federal investigators in January 2022 “that he ‘heard that Nix was in the booking business’ and that he ‘couldn’t figure out where he got all the money he was gambling with’.”
“Because of my position, I didn’t want to know,” Sibella told investigators. “I’m staying out of it. If we know, we can’t allow them to play. I didn’t ask, I didn’t want to know I guess because he didn’t do anything to defraud the casino.”
Sibella served as president and chief operating officer of the MGM Grand for eight years after which served as president of Resorts World Las Vegas until 2023.
His sentencing comes because the Justice Department is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into illegal sports gambling activities in Southern California that involve laundering money at Las Vegas casinos. The most notable case concerns Ippei MizuharaLos Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter. Federal prosecutors say Mizuhara transferred money he had stolen to the Japanese superstar to repay debts to illegal bookmakers.
Sibella held top positions at The Mirage and Treasure Island casinos on the Las Vegas Strip before becoming president of the 6,800-room MGM Grand in 2011. He left the corporate in February 2019 and joined Resorts World Las Vegas before joining Malaysia’s Genting Group, which opened the $4.3 billion, 66-story resort in June 2021.
Sibella was fired from Resorts World in September 2023 after the corporate said he “violated company policies and the terms of his employment.”
