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The Gaming Control Board in Nevada is now focusing on possibly regulatory violations against Cantor Gaming following the arrest of its Sportsbook Director Michael Colbert on Wednesday.
The Las Vegas Review Journal on Thursday afternoon reported that Jerry Markling, chief of enforcement for the Gaming Control Board, has been working with the New York City Police Department’s Organized Crime Investigation Division for the past 15 months to determine Cantor’s role, if any, in a multi million dollar illegal sports betting ring. Though Colbert was charged with illegal bookmaking, racketeering and money laundering, reports initially suggested that Cantor Gaming was not under any type of scrutiny from law enforcement.
Markling said state gaming regulators are trying to determine if Colbert’s alleged illegal activities extended deeper into the operations of Cantor Gaming.
Cantor Gaming is an affiliate of New York-based brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald that runs seven Las Vegas sportsbooks including those at the Hard Rock, Palms, M Resort, The Venetian, Cosmopolitan, Palazzo and Tropicana.
The two-year-old investigation netted 25 individuals including three alleged owners of PinnacleSports.com, one of the largest bookmaking operations in the world. Pinnacle Sports issued a statement late Thursday claiming that none of its employees had been arrested and that the company would feel little, if any, impact from the events of Wednesday and Thursday.
While Pinnacle has not accepted post up business online from US citizens since 1997, an administrator of the SportsBookReview.com posting forum suggested that eWallets may be reluctant to conduct business with the wagering company in Europe due to the bad press.
Colbert remained in custody late Thursday. Those who knew the successful Sportsbook Director told Gambling911.com he was “an upstanding individual”. Nobody we spoke to had anything negative to say about the man.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
