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Overall, it’s been a busy stretch for the board since the start of 2025. In that time the regulator has issued five multimillion-dollar anti-money laundering fines to entities on the Las Vegas Strip, an unprecedented run of sanctions for America’s gambling capital.
Four of the investigations – those involving Resorts World Las Vegas, MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and the Venetian – centred around AML violations related to illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, who was placed on the state’s exclusion list in April. The other case involving Wynn Las Vegas did not pertain to play from Bowyer.
Wynn forfeited $130 million to the federal government for a slew of proxy betting violations, which was “believed to be the largest forfeiture by a casino based on admissions of criminal wrongdoing”, per federal prosecutors.
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Stakeholders from Bally’s Corp gave an update about the progress of the company’s permanent Chicago casino in a conference call that lasted just eight minutes on Monday, with comments from Chairman Soo Kim and Wanda Wilson, chair of the Bally’s Chicago board.
The terse call came about a month after Bally’s announced it was “resetting the pace of construction” of the project’s non-gaming elements in response to the city’s legalisation of video gaming terminals earlier this year.
Kim said the purpose of convening the call was to “reiterate our deep commitment to Bally’s Chicago” and to address “inaccurate reports” from the press saying that construction had stopped or slowed after the update that was released in early August.
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Through July, the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority (LVCVA) reported that visitor volume has rebounded only 0.5%. 2026 followed a difficult 2025, where visitation crashed 7.5%.
Far fewer travelers are arriving in the casino town by air this year. Harry Reid International Airport reported 30.2 million passengers through July—a 6.9% drop from the same period in 2025—with international traffic down nearly 9%.
The LVCVA and Harry Reid International Airport have not yet released their August reports. Truist Securities analyst Barry Jonas isn’t expecting a major rally.
