Billionaire Barry Diller has been marked for approval by Nevada Gaming Commission regulators to work in the casino business. His status had been brought into questions after news of questionable trades emerged.
Diller is a major shareholder at MGM Resorts International and he sits on its board. After the commission’s 4-1 ruling, he received a limited license to work in the state’s gaming industry. The license will last for two years while an investigation takes place. If cleared, he will have the opportunity to obtain a full license.
The controversy surrounds accusations of insider trading that were reported in March by The Wall Street Journal. It came to light that federal prosecutors and regulators were investigating bets that Diller – along with stepson Alexander von Furstenberg and mogul David Geffen – had made on Activision just days before the video game giant was sold to Microsoft on January 18.
Diller conceded that it was rather suspicious timing but defended himself before the commission. As he told them: “I recognize that such a neat coincidence, people are going to look into it. I thought immediately that they would... I said, ‘Let’s be certain we keep all the records so that whenever this is investigated, which it surely will be, that facts can be known, which is, we had no knowledge.’”
The concern of the commission was that these trades slightly tarnished Diller’s record, something they don’t like to see when awarding licenses to operate in Nevada. Even still, Commissioner Steven Cohen noted that the billionaire’s character was not in question, reportedly saying “We respect you sir.”
In 2020, Diller’s holding company InterActiveCorp. spent over $1bn for a 12% stake in MGM Resorts, one of the largest property owners on The Strip.
