Black Book
Nevada’s infamous "Black Book" is officially known as the List of Excluded Persons. It is a highly restrictive, legally enforced blacklist maintained by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Anyone whose name is entered into the book is permanently banned from stepping foot inside any licensed casino in the state of Nevada. Licensed casinos face severe regulatory penalties and potential loss of their gaming licenses if they knowingly permit an excluded person on their premises.

Origin (1960)
The book was created in 1960 by the Nevada Gaming Commission, to help sever the highly publicized ties between Las Vegas casinos and organized crime. While it started strictly for Mafia figures, the list evolved over decades to target sophisticated casino cheats, slot thieves, bookmakers, money launderers, and individuals convicted of egregious or abusive behavior on casino floors. There are only 37 active entries on the list.

Infamous Casino Cheats & Slot Thieves

• Mathew Raymond Bowyer Added in April 2026. He ran a massive illegal sports-betting ring from Southern California. Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for MLB star Shohei Ohtani, was one of his prominent clients.
• Wayne Joseph Nix Former minor-league baseball player who operated a massive illegal corporate-scale sports gambling ring.
• Ronald Dale Harris A former software engineer for the Nevada Gaming Control Board itself. He used his inside knowledge to hack and rig casino slot machine source codes in the 1990s.
• Sandra Kay Vaccaro The first and only woman added to the list, blacklisted in 1986 for her leading role in a sophisticated, multi-million dollar slot-machine cheating syndicate.
• Anargyros Karabourniotis Better known as "Archie Karas," the legendary high-roller who went on "The Run"—turning $50 into over $40 million in the 1990s. He was added to the Black Book later in life after being caught marking cards at a blackjack table.
• Shaun Joseph Benward A notorious modern casino cheat who specialized in "past-posting" of discreetly adding chips to a winning bet after the roulette ball landed.
• Louis John Olejack Banned for repeated card-marking and cheating devices.

Poker Handled Internally
Because poker is played against other players rather than the house, typical poker cheating like collusion or ghosting is usually handled internally by casino rooms or poker tours with property trespass bans rather than a state-level lifetime ban. However, a few individuals with deep ties to high-stakes poker are famously on the list for crimes committed in other areas of the casino.

Notable Poker-Adjacent Names

• Anargyros Karabourniotis ("Archie Karas")The most famous poker-adjacent figure in the book. He is a legendary gambler who famously went on "The Run"—turning $50 into more than $40 million in the 1990s by playing ultra-high-stakes poker and pool against the world's best. He was officially added to the Black Book in 2015 after he transitioned away from poker and was caught marking cards at blackjack tables in San Diego.
• Jeffrey Douglas MartinAn attorney and high-stakes recreational poker player who frequented Las Vegas tournament circuits. He was added to the Black Book in 2019 after being convicted for his role in the infamous Bellagio Craps Scheme. He partnered with crooked craps dealers to slide phantom late bets ("past-posting") past the house, defrauding the casino out of over $1.2 million.

The Online Poker Black Book Controversy
Because poker cheats rarely make it onto the state's physical list, Nevada lawmakers introduced a bill called Assembly Bill 380. The goal was to create a separate, state-maintained online poker blacklist specifically tracking players banned or suspended from interactive gaming accounts for using poker bots, collusion, or real-time assistance (RTA) software. The bill was heavily opposed by casino giants like Caesars Interactive Entertainment over concerns regarding data privacy and liability.