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- Federal investigation of Wayne Nix gambling ring has expanded to Las Vegas
- Resorts World and MGM Grand employees have been subpoenaed, sources say
- Prosecutors say Nix ran betting ring that catered to professional sports players
The federal probe of an illicit gambling ring that allegedly catered to professional sports players has expanded to investigate possible ties to a number of Las Vegas hotel employees, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
In recent weeks, federal agents from California visited Resorts World Las Vegas in connection with their widening probe of the sports betting ring operated by former minor league baseball player Wayne Nix, two people familiar with the matter told DailyMail.com.
One of the people, who asked to remain anonymous, said more than a dozen employees of Resorts World and the MGM Grand, both icons of The Strip, have been subpoenaed as part of the investigation.
According to court filings, the Nix gambling ring operated at the highest levels of professional sports, with former pro athletes acting as bookies, and clients including an MLB coach, active NFL and MLB players, an NBA player’s business manager, and a sports broadcaster.
Sources say the federal probe is examining the possibility that current or former Las Vegas hotel employees acted as agents in the betting network, or paid off their own personal gambling debts to Nix with casino resources.
The Las Vegas expansion of the Nix probe was first reported by the Nevada Current, which cited a state employee as saying that federal agents have interviewed or taken statements from several former employees of the Nevada Gaming Control Board (GCB).
Federal agents are specifically looking at allegations that Las Vegas hotel employees used comps and promo chips to pay off personal gambling debts to Nix, the Current reported, and sources confirmed to DailyMail.com.
They are also looking into the possibility that employees acted as agents in the Nix network, by steering gamblers to the ring and taking a cut of their losses, the people said.
A GCB email obtained by DailyMail.com indicates that members of the state agency are ‘aware’ of the allegations being investigated by the feds, which are ‘already being looked at’.
A GCB spokesman declined to comment on the Nix investigation, telling DailyMail.com: ‘The Nevada Gaming Control Board does not have any comment on your inquiry.’
A subpoena is an investigative tool which must be authorized by a judge, but the issuance of a subpoena does not necessarily mean that a crime has been committed, or that charges will be brought.
The Las Vegas investigation is being led by federal investigators based in Los Angeles, where the case against Nix was brought last year, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Agents with Homeland Securities Investigations and IRS Criminal Investigations are leading the probe for prosecutors in the US Central District of California, sources say.
‘We have no comment,’ a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles told DailyMail.com.
The MGM Grand and Resorts World did not respond to repeated requests for comment. An attorney for Nix did not respond to request for comment.
Nix pleaded guilty to his role in the gambling ring last year and has yet to be sentenced, but there are signs that the investigation is active and widening.
Last last month, a celebrity accountant in Los Angeles with a roster of A-list clients accepted a plea deal in connection with Nix’s sports betting scheme.
William ‘Eric’ Fulton, the founder and managing partner of Fulton Management, pleaded guilty to one count of lying to federal agents about his role in laundering illicit proceeds from the gambling ring.
Last year, former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig pleaded not guilty to a charge of lying to federal agents about bets he allegedly placed through Nix’s gambling ring. Puig is due to face trial in January.
Although betting through legitimate sportsbooks has long been legal in Nevada, and has been legalized in dozens of other states in recent years, it remains illegal in California, where Nix was based.
Illegal bookmakers can also offer services that are banned at legitimate sportsbooks, such as extending credit to customers who are in the hole. As well, they operate under the table, allowing both gamblers and bookies to avoid taxes on any gains.
Prosecutors also allege that Nix’s ring thrived by tapping into a customer base that might normally be barred from registering with legitimate sportsbooks: professional athletes.
Nix, 45, launched his illicit sports bookmaking business some 20 years ago in Los Angeles after his six-year minor league career ended in 2001, prosecutors said in charging documents.
His client list was created from contacts he had made in the sports world and included current and former pro athletes. The agents he hired helped expand that clientele base.
Nix’s agents, who included former MLB players, would steer new clients to the network and accept their bets, usually taking a 20 percent cut of the money clients lost and passing the rest along to Nix, a source familiar with the matter told DailyMail.com.
The agents also were tasked with collecting money when clients placed bets on credit and lost, the source said.
‘It’s a very easy thing to think, “I can make a couple extra bucks, because I know these guys that like to gamble”,’ the person said of the agents in the network.
‘But it’s a slippery slope. It’s a s**tty thing to get involved in. Because then you start chasing the money down. It’s something you should not get involved in.’
Court filings show an unnamed professional football player paid Nix $245,000 for gambling losses in 2016. An MLB coach paid $4,000 in losses that same year. It was not disclosed if either bet on their own games, or their own sports.
In September 2019, a professional baseball player who was already in debt to Nix pleaded in text messages for the bookie to raise his credit limit so he could place additional sports wagers, prosecutors say.
In November 2019, the business manager of an NBA player was given an $25,000 per-game limit to wager on ‘NBA games’ through the Nix network, according to prosecutors.
MLB prohibits all league personnel from betting on baseball, or gambling illegally on any sports. The NFL’s policy bars allows players only to make legal bets on sports other than football, but bars all personnel from betting on football games or betting illegally.
Court filings also allege that an unnamed sports broadcaster told Nix by text message in 2019 that he was refinancing his home mortgage to pay off personal gambling debts owed to Nix.
John Holden, an associate professor at Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business and an expert in gaming law, told DailyMail.com that the apparent high-profile nature of Nix’s clients could be a factor in the Justice Department’s aggressive pursuit of the case.
‘From the sounds of it, some of the clients of this sportsbook were bigger names than, perhaps, the generic sportsbook customer,’ said Holden. ‘So there is value to the DOJ there in terms of the optics of the case.’
He noted that, in general, illegal gambling had not been a top priority for the DOJ in the decades since the 9/11 terror attacks, in comparison with earlier eras when it was a key front in the push to dismantle the Mafia.
However, Holden added that federal law enforcement is ‘under a ton of pressure from the regulated gambling industry to go after illegal gambling,’ particularly as legalized gambling expands in the US.
‘They’re effectively coming out and saying, “Look, we can’t compete with these offshore companies, and guys like Wayne Nix, allegedly, so we need you to enforce the laws,”‘ said Holden.
Nix pleaded guilty in April 2022 to conspiring to run an illegal gambling operation and failing to report $1.4 million in income in 2017 and 2018.
He has agreed to pay back taxes and interest of $1.25 million and forfeit $1.3 million seized from bank accounts and faces up to eight years in prison.
Nix’s longtime partner in the gambling operation, 45-year-old Edon Yoshida Kagasoff, pleaded guilty in April 2022 to one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business.
Kagasoff, whom prosecutors say acted as an enforcer and collected gambling debts for Nix, was sentenced on July 5 to six months of probation, fined $1,000, and ordered to forfeit $3,164,563 in ill-gotten gains.
However, Nix’s sentencing hearing, originally scheduled for last July, has repeatedly been delayed, and is currently scheduled for March 6, 2024.
Since he entered a plea, many documents related to his case have been filed under seal, which among other things could mean they pertain to an ongoing investigation.
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