Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Cantor Gaming sports book director arrested

Mike Colbert

Steve Marcus

Race and sports book director Mike Colbert poses with a wireless tablet at the M Resort on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010. Customers with accounts can use the tablet to place bets without standing in line. The sports book also has “In-Running” wagering during games.

Updated Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012 | 4:09 p.m.

Michael Colbert, the race and sports director for Cantor Gaming and sports book manager at the M Resort, was arrested Wednesday on a fugitive warrant from out of state, according to records from the Clark County Detention Center.

Colbert, 32, was booked into jail Wednesday. A hearing is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Monday.

A Nevada gambling regulator said a total of eight Las Vegas area residents have been arrested in a New York City police investigation of illegal bookmaking and money laundering.

Gaming Control Board enforcement chief Jerry Markling said beside Colbert, the seven others are not involved with Cantor Gaming. A Cantor spokesman said the case doesn't involve the company. A company spokeswoman said the company had no comment on Colbert's arrest.

Gaming officials arrested Colbert at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday near a tavern near Craig Road and Rancho Drive, according to Las Vegas Metro Police records. A warrant for Colbert’s arrest had been issued Monday. Police said Colbert was arrested without incident.

Records show Colbert and six others are jailed in Las Vegas. Markling said one person was taken to an area hospital as a precaution.

Each faces enterprise corruption, money laundering and conspiracy charges in New York, Markling said.

Colbert has been the public face of Cantor Gaming since the company arrived to Las Vegas more than three years ago. He served as the sports book director at the M Resort, Cantor’s first property, from the day it opened in March 2009.

The M sports book found immediate, unprecedented success under Colbert’s watch. By offering the highest limits in town and an expanded betting menu that included Las Vegas’ first-ever in-running wagering, it became ground zero for the biggest bettors in Las Vegas.

Cantor grew from there and currently operates sports books at six other casinos — the Venetian, Palazzo, Palms, Cosmopolitan, Hard Rock and Tropicana. Colbert stayed in charged of posting and adjusting the betting lines for all of Cantor’s empire.

Local and national media have featured Colbert’s analysis on games and the betting market regularly for the last three years.

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