Controversial Tacos El Cabron Quietly Closes at Resorts World

By Scott Roeben, on June 02 2022
3 min read 9 comments
Las Vegas

We pass along a lot of news about the openings and closings of Las Vegas restaurants. This time, though, there’s glorious drama.

Tacos El Cabron has quietly closed, permanently, at Resorts World.

The restaurant has been removed from both the Resorts World Web site and the official Tacos El Cabron site.

In Spanish, “cabron” means “male goat.” And lots of other colorful things.

Tacos El Cabron sat outside Resorts World, near the entrance to the resort’s District shopping and restaurant wing, next to Fat Tuesday.

While a challenging location, we suspect the closing of Tacos El Cabron wasn’t due to business challenges.

Now, for the drama.

Tacos El Cabron has been in the news recently. The reason: There’s an ongoing investigation by the Nevada Gaming Control Board that the restaurant is partially owned by a convicted felon.

In the casino world, having restaurant partners with criminals is a big no-no, and can jeopardize one’s gaming license, the magical conduit through which most riches flow in Las Vegas.

Read more about the allegations and subsequent investigation.

These muchachos are the only trace left of Tacos El Cabron at Resorts World.

Basically, gambler Brandon Sattler accused Resorts World President Scott Sibella of various things during a bankruptcy fraud litigation. Sattler not only brought up the issue of the ownership of the potentially problematic ownership of Tacos El Cabron, he also accused Sibella of lying to the Gaming Control Board, upon which the GCB would not look kindly, to say the least.

Resorts World and Sibella have maintained the claims are false.

While Sattler’s reputation is less than stellar, the episode has been more than a little embarrassing for Scott Sibella and Resorts World.

The sudden disappearance of Tacos El Cabron seems to have “Nothing to see here!” written all over it.

No need to panic about the closure of Tacos El Cabron, as Tacos El Gordo is right across the street.

According to reports, a Resorts World rep said, “In the instance of Tacos El Cabron, Resorts World Las Vegas conducted thorough background and due diligence checks as we do with all of our tenants, and nothing untoward was found. However, if we, along with gaming regulators, determine that there is a hidden interest of any kind that was not previously disclosed, we will act immediately to ensure full compliance with all gaming authorities.”

The abrupt closure of Tacos El Cabron certainly seems to qualify as “acting immediately,” with a strong whiff of “oopsie.”

Sattler threw out other salacious accusations about Scott Sibella as well, including alleging the two “partied,” “did drugs together” and “probably had sex with multiple women at the same time.”

“Probably.”

Gaming regulators have yet to announce their findings in this quagmire of WTF.

To predict what lies ahead would be mostly speculation.

A source familiar with the situation tells us federal agencies are now poking around at Resorts World based upon Sattler’s allegations, too. We hear Resorts World has hired a legal firm to open “an independent investigation” into these matters.

Our guess is if this mess is limited to questionable ownership of a now-closed taco shop, Sibella is likely to survive the brouhaha.

Another take is this has opened a can of worms, and once you’re in the crosshairs of regulators and other agencies⁠—local and federal⁠—there isn’t nearly as much wiggle room.

Resorts World owners Genting Group, Scott Sibella and the whole Resorts World team deserve big props for opening the resort in the middle of a pandemic. Let’s hope the recent drama doesn’t derail the potential success of this new addition to the Las Vegas Strip.