Nevada’s List of Excluded Persons — the notorious “Black Book” filled with names of people forever banned from the state’s big casinos — is expected to change over the next few months as the Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday will consider the addition of the 39th person to be listed and a petition from a person already listed to be removed.
The five-member commission will consider the inclusion of San Juan Capistrano, California, resident Mathew Raymond Bowyer, who pleaded guilty to federal charges of running an illegal gambling business, money laundering and filing a false tax return. He took sports bets from an estimated 700 gamblers, including Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter and de facto agent for Los Angeles Dodgers baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Thursday’s commission meeting begins at 9 a.m., an hour earlier than when the panel normally gathers. The meeting is in Las Vegas and is livestreamed on the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s YouTube channel.
Bowyer served about five months of a one-year, one-day sentence that began in October. He was released from a federal prison in Lompoc, California, to a halfway house in March and will be on supervised probation for two years.
Won’t fight inclusion
In a February telephone interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Bowyer indicated he does not expect to fight inclusion to the list, citing the expense of hiring an attorney to represent him. As of Tuesday, there was no indication from Gaming Control Board representatives that Bowyer would attend the hearing, although he has been notified of it.
But in his interview with the Review-Journal, Bowyer expressed his disdain for being considered for inclusion in the book, which lists the worst of the worst criminals that regulators say should be banned from Nevada casinos for committing crimes that hurt the gaming industry and could bring a bad reputation to the state.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that they are telling me I can’t set foot in a licensed gaming property in the state of Nevada,” Bowyer said in the interview. “I mean, I understand that they don’t want me to be able to gamble again, but to tell me I can’t take my 4-year-old boy to Circus Circus or go have dinner at Javier’s at Aria to me is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of.”
Fall guy
Bowyer said he believes he is “the fall guy for everything and everybody in this situation.”
He said the day before the RJ interview that he was visited by two Control Board agents who notified him of his nomination to the list and explained his options for fighting inclusion. But he doubts he’ll fight it because he said he can’t afford the legal representation needed to make his case before the commission.
In the wake of Bowyer’s case, three casino companies have been disciplined by the Gaming Commission and fined.
Bowyer’s name has come up in three previous disciplinary actions taken in 2025 involving fines of $10.5 million assessed to Resorts World Las Vegas and its parent company, Genting Berhad, in March; an $8.5 million fine against MGM Resorts International in April; and a $7.8 million fine against Caesars Entertainment Inc. in November.
Those actions involved the second-, fourth- and fifth-highest fines ever assessed in a gaming disciplinary matter.
Nicole Bowyer
There’s still unfinished business before the Gaming Commission for Bowyer’s wife, Nicole Bowyer.
More than a year ago, on Jan. 30, 2025, the Gaming Commission delayed action on a complaint against Nicole Bowyer, who worked as an independent agent for Resorts World Las Vegas.
Nicole Bowyer faced at least a five-year ban as an agent who encourages a gambler to play at a specific casino and is paid a commission from the casino based on the player’s losses.
Commissioners put off a decision on a stipulation for settlement with her because they wanted to see her hit with stiffer penalties. Commissioners separately said they wanted to see Nicole Bowyer fined or possibly have her agent status revoked for life.
Mathew Bowyer alleges that Resorts World never trained his wife about money-laundering compliance, saying casino operators “never did one ounce of AML (anti-money-laundering) training.”
“That was something that was supposed to be done,” he said. “I found out later because I knew nothing about being a casino host and nor did my wife because they were so hungry for our business. They clearly were OK with that. But the fact that they did zero training. I feel like it’s just completely, you know, unfair would be the best word I could use.”
Since Resorts World was fined, Genting has made several moves to bolster AML compliance, including applying for and receiving licensing for two board members, former Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and former Gaming Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett.
If approved for inclusion on the list, Bowyer would become its 39th member, after commissioners unanimously approved the inclusion of Newport Coast, California, resident Wayne Nix as No. 38 in February.
Nix, a former minor league baseball pitcher, is an illegal bookmaker whose casino play at MGM Grand, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and other MGM Resort properties led to former MGM Grand President Scott Sibella pleading guilty to failing to report to federal officers about illegal gamblers playing at the casino when he worked there in 2018.
Prospective removal
While Bowyer’s inclusion would add to the list, commissioners also will consider the unprecedented removal of a living person from it.
Scheduled right before the Bowyer hearing is discussion of a petition for the removal of Francis Citro Jr., 80, whose attorney asked in November for a hearing on the matter.
A popular entertainer at Las Vegas’ Italian American Club, Citro is hoping his removal from the list would enable him to perform his collection of bebop music, Italian folk songs, jokes and stories about Las Vegas’ mob past in a casino lounge setting some day.
Las Vegas attorney Michael Lasher submitted the 10-page request to be removed from the list in November saying Citro has changed his life since he was placed on the list Nov. 21, 1991.
In a hearing in January, Lasher said, “In the decades that have passed, petitioner’s character and reputation have become stellar. He is a reformed man, doing good for his community by charity fundraising as an entertainer.”
In January, commissioners opted to delay a hearing by a month and then Citro asked for a further delay until April in order to prepare his case.
No decision Thursday
At Thursday’s hearing, commissioners aren’t expected to render a decision on removal, but to decide whether to schedule a comprehensive hearing on Citro’s request. If commissioners vote against it, the matter would be considered resolved and Citro would remain on the list. If a hearing is set, Citro could bring witnesses to testify to his character before a decision on removal is considered.
If successful, Citro would be the first living person ever removed from the list.
The Gaming Commission routinely peruses the list to remove people who have died over the years. Currently, there are at least two people on the list who have died in recent years.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
TOP FINES
Here’s a list of the top 10 fines imposed by the Nevada Gaming Commission for disciplinary action against casinos.
1. Wynn Resorts Ltd., $20 million, 2019.
2. Resorts World Las Vegas, $10.5 million, 2025
3. Steve Wynn, $10 million, 2023.
4. MGM Resorts International, $8.5 million, 2025
5. Caesars Entertainment, $7.8 million, 2025
T6. CG Technology (then known as Cantor G&W Holdings), $5.5 million, 2014.
T6. Wynn Resorts Ltd., $5.5 million, 2025.
8. The Mirage, $5 million ($3 million fine, $2 million compensatory payment), 2003.
9. Stardust, $3 million, 1985.
10. Santa Fe Station, $2.2 million ($1.5 million fine, $700,000 compensatory payment), 2005.
