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California law enforcement said to be looking into whether certain high level Vegas employees used casino assets to pay gambling debts
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High-stakes gambler-turned-FBI confidential source, RJ Cipriani, keeps naming names on his X feed
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Allegations include high level Vegas employees providing customer data to illegal bookmaking business
Federal law enforcement agents in California are investigating allegations that current and former Las Vegas hotel employees used casino assets to pay gambling debts towards an illegal gambling ring that operated for almost two decades.
Dana Gentry of the Nevada Current broke the blockbuster news early Wednesday. This coincided with a massive surge in traffic Wednesday morning to the Gambling911.com website, one of the few media outlets looking into this matter and attempting to get answers.
A high-stakes gambler-turned-FBI confidential source, RJ Cipriani (AKA Robin Hood 702) has been alluding to a probe over the past month and hasn't been afraid to name names. One of those he named is one Jeremiah Chambers, now a former senior director for customer development at the Cosmopolitan casino. Cipriani claimed he was terminated. Gambling911 was able to confirm his recent departure (not previously reported before Cipriani posted about it), though no reason was given by the Cosmopolitan. We attempted to reach out to the casino again and were not offered any additional details.
Another name Cipriani has brought up, one Scott Sibella. He's the Resorts World President.
A state employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of losing his job, tells the Nevada Current that federal agents have interviewed or taken statements from several former employees of the Nevada Gaming Control Board inquiring specifically about Sibella. He was formerly president of the MGM Grand.
The Nevada Current has also reviewed an email purportedly from the GCB indicating that regulators are aware of the allegations being investigated by the feds and says “they were already being looked at.”
Cipriani has previously mentioned to Gambling911 that his sources claimed casino executives were using promo chips to make payments to the bookmaking ring. Gambling911.com had been trying to verify these claims. Gentry's reporting sheds more light on the topic.
From Gentry's reporting:
Federal agents, according to the state employee, are investigating allegations hotel employees at MGM properties used comps and promo chips to pay off personal gambling debts to Wayne Nix, a former minor league baseball player, and money owed to an illegal sports betting operation Nix admits he operated with a handful of others.
Promo chips are free chips provided to high rollers. They are subject to limits and internal controls, however, highly-placed executives often have the authority to override those limits.
The chips can be ‘washed’ in large amounts at the gaming tables by savvy gamblers and redeemed at the casino cage for cash, according to experts. Some casinos have begun to phase out the use of promo chips in recent years because of the potential for abuse.
Perhaps even more shocking are allegations that high level Las Vegas employees provided confidential customer data to Nix' illegal bookmaking operation.
“We will not have any comment,” Thom Mrozek, spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice in Los Angeles told The Current.
Gambling911.com will continue monitoring this matter.
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
