Caesars to pay $7.8 million for AML failures tied to illegal bookmaker Bowyer

Caesars Entertainment has agreed to pay a $7.8 million fine to settle allegations that it failed to prevent anti-money laundering breaches linked to convicted illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, Nevada regulators said on Thursday. The settlement makes Caesars the third major Las Vegas Strip operator penalised this year over lapses involving Bowyer.

The Nevada Gaming Commission will consider the proposed settlement at its November 20 meeting. Similar fines for MGM Resorts and Resorts World were approved earlier in the year.

In a five-count complaint, the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) said Caesars allowed Bowyer to gamble freely across its casinos for more than seven years, despite repeated red flags and his designation as a “high risk” customer beginning in 2019. Regulators said Caesars had evidence that two other casinos banned Bowyer as early as 2017, yet failed to block him from its properties until Jan. 22, 2024.

The complaint said Caesars permitted Bowyer to “win and lose millions of dollars” at Caesars Palace, Harrah’s Resort Southern California, and Lake Tahoe properties while failing to verify his source of funds or escalate concerns to its AML officers. It cited five violations, including failure to establish Bowyer’s source of funds, failure to ban him, and failure to conduct adequate due diligence.

Bowyer, 50, long regarded as one of the largest illegal bookmakers in the U.S., handled more than $325 million in bets from Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to illegal gambling, money laundering, and tax offences and began serving a one-year federal prison sentence in October.

Caesars said in a statement that “integrity and regulatory compliance are paramount” and that it “fully cooperated with the Nevada Gaming Control Board throughout its investigation.” The company added that it remains committed to strengthening its anti-money laundering and “know your customer” procedures.

Nevada regulators have faced a surge in AML cases in 2025, including fines of $8.5 million for MGM, $10.5 million for Resorts World, and $5.5 million for Wynn. NGCB chair Mike Dreitzer has warned that the board will “have no problem” tightening enforcement if operators continue to fall short.

“Fines make headlines, but at the end of the day, from my perspective, it’s even more important that the operators, the licensees, are acting in a corrective way, and that we are regulating and verifying that as we go along. … Certainly we are not afraid to continue to ramp up enforcement, if that means fines, whatever makes sense,” Dreitzer said.

The penalty adds to a difficult year for Caesars, which reported sharply lower Las Vegas profits in the third quarter and faces ongoing uncertainty over its digital division. Regulatory constraints have also slowed its ability to pursue emerging prediction market products. The company’s high-profile bid for a casino in New York’s Times Square stalled after local opposition earlier this year.

Caesars Digital president Eric Hession told analysts in October that the company would remain cautious on prediction markets until regulators provide clarity. “We can’t be out in the lead on this one… Our best approach is to monitor it, put our plans in place, make sure we’re adequately resourced, and be ready to move if there’s a legalization or definition in either direction,” he said.