Michigan has fined Caesars Sportsbook over a case involving a man who made over $2.1 million in “fictitious” deposits and then wagered $88 million.
In a document Gambling Harm obtained through a FOIA request, Caesars agreed to pay $100,000 in an “acknowledgement of violation” (AOV) related to internal control failures.
Michigan Gaming Control Board Executive Director Henry Williams signed the AOV in August 2025. The resolution to the case appeared during the board’s September meeting.
The violation stemmed from a 2023 case where a Michigan man was able to deposit money he didn’t have and gamble online through Caesars Sportsbook.
Jeffrey Saco, the bettor, took a plea deal in early 2025. He received three months in jail and three years of probation, and he must pay restitution to the sportsbook.
Saco is recovering from gambling addiction with the help of Gamblers Anonymous, the MGCB said in April.
In Gambling Harm’s view, the case raises red flags because Saco was permitted to wager $88 million over just 16 days and nearly 10,000 bets. His average bet size was around $9,000.
Caesars was not fined for a violation related to player safety rules.
What Happened at Caesars Michigan
The Caesars fine shed more light on what happened in the case, which first became public in September 2024. Michigan regulators said Saco was able to make more than $2.1 million in deposits “by exploiting a system vulnerability.”
According to the AOV obtained through the FOIA request:
“The Licensee [Caesars/William Hill] reported, and the Board’s investigation confirmed, that a systems application, whose purpose was to allow representatives of the Licensee to update patron account balances to reflect physical cash deposits made by a patron, was unsecured.”
“In April 2023, this resulted in a patron being able to access the unsecured systems application and make 116 ‘deposits’ totaling $2,156,625 with no physical cash deposit or other authorized method of account funding to support these 116 ‘deposits.’ The patron was then able to make wagers totaling over $88 million and withdraw $591,469.65.”
Saco was in the hole about $1.5 million through betting, but the money deposited wasn’t his.
It’s unclear when Saco created his Caesars account and if he had been a gambler on the platform before April 2023.
According to Michigan, Saco withdrew more than $500,000 from his Caesars account and then stopped gambling on the platform. Caesars did not stop him from gambling, according to the state.
It’s unclear if Caesars contacted Saco during his gambling spree to check on his well-being.
Saco’s Losses at Caesars MI
According to Michigan sports gambling revenue data, Caesars Sportsbook (William Hill) took about $23 million in bets during April 2023, generating $840,000 in gross betting receipts.
Michigan apparently excluded Saco’s fraudulent activity from the reporting figures.
His fictitious losses of about $1.5 million were nearly double what the sportsbook won from all other bettors during the month.
The timeline of events in the Caesars Michigan case remains unclear. Did the sportsbook alert the state of the suspected fraud before Saco withdrew money from the platform? Or did the sportsbook notify regulators after the apparent high-roller gambler had stopped betting?
Regardless, the case appears to highlight a worrying trend for the U.S. sports betting industry.
More than half of betting industry revenue comes from the highest severity of problem gamblers, according to a 2024 Connecticut gambling study.
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