Gaming Commission dusts off Black Book, adds Bowyer

The Nevada Gaming Commission voted unanimously Thursday to include former Las Vegas high-roller and illegal bookie Mathew Bowyer on the state’s list of Excluded Persons, or so-called Black Book. 

Bowyer ran an illegal sports betting operation from 2014 to 2023, Deputy Attorney General Nona Lawrence told the Gaming Commission. Among his clients was Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter at the time for Major League Baseball star Shohei Ohtani. Mizuhara admits he stole from Ohtani to pay millions in gambling debts to Bowyer. 

In 2024, Bowyer agreed to a guilty plea to money laundering and illegal bookmaking. He was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison in August 2025 and ordered to pay approximately $1.6 million in restitution immediately to the IRS. He was released after serving five months. 

Lawrence told the Gaming Commission that Bowyer “frequented Las Vegas casinos and used illicit proceeds from his illegal book making business to gamble and pay off casino markers.”  

Bowyer, she added, “solicited new customers from casino marketing hosts at the casinos he frequented, including offering a commission gratuity for customer referrals. Mr. Bowyer admitted that he also solicited valets and other casino employees to feed him clients in return for a fee.”

Lawrence named Bowyer in relation to disciplinary action taken by the Commission against three licenses – Resorts World, Caesars Palace, and MGM Grand. 

The Current was the first to report in 2023 that federal authorities were investigating allegations of money laundering by illegal bookmakers in Las Vegas casinos, and that Bowyer’s California home was raided by federal agents in October that year.

In May 2024, the Current reported Bowyer, during 32 trips to Resorts World Las Vegas between 2022 and 2023, and his associate, Ryan Boyajian lost close to $12 million at the hotel casino. 

Bowyer meets four of the criteria required for inclusion in the Black Book, Lawrence told the Gaming Commission.He’s been convicted of a felony under federal law. He’s been convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude. He’s been convicted of a crime in violation of California gaming laws. And finally, he has a “notorious or unsavory reputation that would adversely affect public confidence and trust” in the gaming industry. 

Bowyer has an “extensive media presence,” Lawrence noted, reeling off a number of national interviews. “Mr Bowyer may be one of the most media exposed bookmakers In the country.”

On another matter, the Commission refused to set a hearing to entertain a motion filed by Francis Citro to be removed from the Black Book. 

Attorney Tony Sgro argued that Citro, a piano player who hopes to play the Las Vegas Strip, is not the same person who was entered into the Black Book more than three decades ago for having four convictions, and a “notorious and unsavory reputation.” Sgro suggested there should be a mechanism for redemption in the law. 

“We do have a process. and I’m sure it will happen someday,” Commission Chairman Jennifer Togliatti responded. “But from my perspective, not in this case.”