UPDATE: Nevada Gaming Commission Approves $5.5M Money Laundering Fine for Wynn Las Vegas
Posted on: May 23, 2025, 02:09h.
Last updated on: May 23, 2025, 02:10h.
UPDATE: The Nevada Gaming Commission voted 4-1 on Thursday, May 22 to approve the $5.5 million fine against Wynn Resorts recommended by the Nevada Gaming Control Board last week. Commissioner Rosa Solis-Rainey cast the dissenting vote, stating that the fine was too low compared to two other fines paid by Las Vegas resorts for money-laundering.
EARLIER: The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) announced late Thursday that it reached an agreement allowing Wynn Resorts to pay a $5.5 million fine to settle money-laundering charges levied against the company in 2024.
Last year, the resort company agreed to pay $130.13 million to the Department of Justice — the largest fine ever for a US casino — for the same charges. A nonprosecution agreement (NPA) between Wynn Las Vegas and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California cited some of the same charges, which included:
- Unsuitable methods of operation arising from activities related to unregistered money transmitting businesses
- Facilitating international monetary transactions
- Allowing proxy betting and other prohibited monetary transactions
“Upon resolution of the federal case, NGCB Enforcement Agents completed a separate regulatory investigation and received full cooperation from Wynn LV throughout the investigation,” read a news release from the NGCB.
In the government’s investigation — run by the DEA, IRS, and the Department of Homeland Security — Wynn Las Vegas was discovered to have violated multiple anti-money laundering rules by knowingly allowing some Chinese clients of ill repute to visit and wager at the Strip resort.
In one example highlighted by the DOJ, Wynn Las Vegas permitted a Chinese patron who “had spent six years in prison in China for conducting unauthorized international monetary transactions and violations of other financial laws” to wager at the property.
As part of its NPA with the government, Wynn Las Vegas acknowledged wrongdoing and noted that it has extensive measures to bolster its anti-money laundering protocols while telling the government that staffers involved in the questionable transactions are no longer employed by the company.
We are pleased that we have resolved this matter with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which is the same matter Wynn Las Vegas resolved with the U.S. Attorney’s office in September 2024,” a spokesperson for Wynn Resort told Casino.org.
“Wynn Resorts is committed to acting with the highest integrity and in full compliance with all laws and regulations governing our industry,” the spokesperson added. “The improper actions that are the subject of the settlement, which violated Wynn’s own compliance policies and procedures, were undertaken by individuals with whom we severed ties years ago. We accept responsibility for those actions and are now glad the matter will soon be fully resolved.”
Third Time Not a Charm
This makes Wynn Resorts the third Las Vegas Strip operator to face a multimillion-dollar money-laundering fine in only the past two months.
In March, Resorts World paid the NGCB $10.5 million to settle charges of money laundering that occurred there in 2022 and 2023. And, in April, MGM Resorts agreed to pay a fine of $8.5 million to settle charges stemming from money laundering that occurred there between 2017 and 2019.
Both the MGM and Resorts World charges were tied to Scott Sibella, the former president of both casinos, who pleaded guilty in 2024 to violating the federal Bank Secrecy Act. In 2023, Sibella was fired from Resorts World. A year later, he was sentenced by a federal judge to one year’s probation and a $9,500 fine, and he was stripped of his gaming license by the NGCB for five years.
The NGCB fine against Wynn Resorts will be voted on by the Nevada Gaming Commission at its May 22 meeting.
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