Sibella looks forward to working in gaming after guilty plea. Can he get a license? 

Hours after entering a guilty plea in federal court for allowing a known illegal sports bookmaker to pay $120,000 cash toward a gambling debt at the MGM Grand without filing a federally-required cash transaction report, former Resorts World and MGM Resorts executive Scott Sibella announced he has no plans to bow out of the gaming industry. 

“As this process comes to a conclusion, I look forward to continuing to provide my knowledge, skills and insights to support the continued growth, evolution and professionalism of the gaming industry,” Sibella said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon by his attorney, John Spilotro. 

Sibella was the target of a federal investigation by the Criminal Division of the IRS and other federal agencies, first reported by the Current in August last year. A month later he was fired by Resorts World for violating company policy. It’s unknown if the separation stemmed from the anti-money laundering violation at MGM. 

Resorts World general counsel Gerald Gardner did not respond to requests for comment on whether that property is negotiating a settlement with federal agents from the Central District of California. 

Sibella faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the plea agreement, and a settlement in which MGM agreed to pay a $7.45 million fine, according to the Department of Justice. 

“Mr. Sibella’s willful violation of Bank Secrecy Act obligations to report suspicious activities put the credibility of the MGM Grand at risk,” Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher of the IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office, said in a news release.

Sibella’s attorney, John Spilotro, says Sibella was charged via information, a non-prosecutorial means of charging a defendant without going to a grand injury. 

“This is unique that the gaming industry, a highly regulated industry, has a federal prosecution against a gaming licensee at such a high level,” a source close to the industry who asked not to be identified, told the Current. “Casual attitudes about anti-money laundering compliance are dangerous. This could be just the tip of the iceberg.”

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN), which regulates anti-money laundering efforts in financial institutions, lists 13 enforcement actions involving casinos since 2000. Sibella’s case is the 14th.  

“It will be interesting to see what the Gaming Control Board does with this and whether or not he, personally, is disciplined,” the source said, adding Sibella “can be in gaming as long as he’s not in a licensable position. There are hundreds of places for him to go that don’t require licensure.” 

Could Sibella regain his license? 

“The Gaming Control Board has discretion, but the likelihood is not,” said a former GCB employee who works for the state and asked not to be named. “It sounds silly, but pleading guilty is better than not and then being found guilty later.  And this sounds backwards, but he has a better chance of getting licensed than he does of someone hiring him at this point.” 

“I would be a bit surprised if there are a lot of people waving job offers at him, with the current state of information,” said former California regulator and gaming executive Richard Schuetz. 

The guilty plea may have ramifications for gaming regulation in Nevada.

A year ago, Gov. Joe Lombardo’s newly appointed Gaming Control Board member George Assad announced that an investigation into allegations leveled against Sibella by gamblers R.J. Cipriani and Brandon Sattler vindicated Sibella, president of Resorts World Las Vegas at the time, of any wrongdoing. 

Assad did not respond to calls to his home seeking comment on Sibella’s guilty plea. 

“The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) is aware of the actions taken by the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California against Scott Sibella, a former president at
the MGM Grand property in Las Vegas, as well as the MGM Grand Hotel and The Cosmopolitan
of Las Vegas,” GCB chairman Kirk Hendrick said in a statement late Thursday. “The NGCB has been monitoring the situation, and will ensure that all individuals and entities involved in Nevada’s gaming industry are held to the highest standards.”

He did not address the agency’s earlier vindication of Sibella.

A spokeswoman for Lombardo also did not respond to a request for comment.

Cipriani, who was arrested at Resorts World in Nov. 2021 for taking a gambler’s phone and later charged with cheating, emailed Lombardo in Feb. 2022 about alleged illegal bookmakers and loan sharks, who Cipriani said should have been weeded out by Resorts World’s compliance department, gambling with Sibella’s knowledge. 

“Now that you know about all these things, I would hope that you take your position and oath in law enforcement seriously,” Cipriani wrote to Lombardo in an email he provided to the Current. “I know that you have aspirations for an even loftier office, that of Governor. I would hope that someone, such as yourself who enters the race for highest office in Nevada, would make sure that these conflicts of interests and corruption throughout Nevada are exposed.”

In March 2022, the GCB questioned Sibella about allegations made by Sattler and Cipriani. Sibella denied knowing them. 

The following month, the Current reported that a convicted illegal sports bookie and admitted money launderer was managing his family’s taco stand at Resorts World with Sibella’s blessing. The following month, the taco stand was closed and gaming regulators refused to comment. 

Cipriani is suing Sibella and Resorts World for allegedly having him arrested under false pretenses. Upon learning last year of illegal sports bookmaker Wayne Nix’s guilty plea, Cipriani says he sought to make Sibella pay for his actions by notifying federal agents of the gaming executive’s involvement with Nix.   

“I have many sources in casinos around the world. I was able to put the pieces together that Sibella was involved,” Cipriani told the Current. “It’s the reason I’m barred at multiple casinos. I know too much. And that’s why I was arrested. Not because I took a phone. Not because I cheated.” 

Cipriani says he expects Resorts World to enter a similar agreement with the feds. He said he’s unaware of a gaming licensee of Sibella’s stature pleading guilty to an anti-money laundering violation. “This is the tip of the iceberg. And the same thing is happening in countless other casinos tonight.”   

Note: This story was updated with comment from GCB chairman Kirk Hendrick.