Commissioners were scheduled to affirm a state Gaming Control Board recommendation to withdraw a suitability application from Matthew Sung-en Ma as a consultant and as the senior vice president of Asian marketing for The Venetian.

Ma's appearance this month before the Control Board represented the final footnote to a lengthy investigatory file on the rigging of three promotional contests designed to prevent a high-roller who had lost $5 million gambling from going home empty handed.

The board voted to withdraw Ma's application as a key employee with prejudice, meaning that he can't apply for licensing for at least a year. Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said that vote was likely the last on the contest-rigging scandal, which ultimately involved five people.

Four others already have been disciplined and Ma said he was, in effect, a bystander who learned about the scheme as it developed.

Ma was the last of the five to be identified publicly and his appearance before the Control Board Sept. 9 was somewhat surprising, considering he flew thousands of miles from Hong Kong to appear before regulators and said he has no intent of ever getting back into the gaming industry.

Why would he go to the trouble?

"He did it out of respect for the board and for that reason alone," said Ma's attorney, John Bailey, who was at his side when the board asked Ma to fill in a few blanks about his role in the incident, which, according to Ma, was minimal.

Ma said he had just retired and was present for the 2002 Chinese New Year celebration at which the rigged drawing occurred. Ma said he had just turned matters over to Roger Chuen Po Mok, then the senior vice president of Asian marketing for The Venetian.

After the high-roller lost his money, the drawing was rigged so that he came away with a Mercedes-Benz sports utility vehicle. Regulators said two other drawings, for gambling chips valued at $20,000 and $10,000 respectively, also were rigged.

When the matter was uncovered, The Venetian fired the employees and agreed to the settlement that resulted in the $1 million fine. The resort said the incident involved "rogue employees who violated company policy and ethical standards."

Ma concurred that four people knew what was going on, but nobody came forward to stop it.

"I thought it was not my business anymore," Ma said at his recent appearance. "I showed poor judgment by not saying anything."

Neilander and board members Bobby Siller and Scott Scherer scolded Ma for standing by while the scheme was in motion. Ultimately, that's why the board voted to withdraw the application with prejudice.

"I've heard enough and read enough about this," Siller said during Ma's appearance. "My feeling is that even one year would not be enough."

But like the Mok withdrawal in July, a one-year limit was set. The regulators promised they'd scrutinize any application with Ma's name on it very carefully.

But if Ma keeps his word, the board won't have to worry about it. He said he has no desire to ever be licensed in Nevada again. In fact, he plans to stay out of the gaming industry altogether.

The same can't be said of some of the other executives who were involved in the scandal.

The Las Vegas Sun's Jeff Simpson tracked down the whereabouts of the others involved in the bogus contest in a series of stories in February and March.

Michael French, the former senior vice president of operations, became the chief operating officer for the Inn of the Mountain Gods casino in Mescalero, N.M.

Brian Parrish, formerly the vice president of marketing, became the marketing director for the same New Mexico tribal casino.

The Mescalero Apache Tribe said they believed the involvement by French and Parrish in the scheme was more than offset by their wide-ranging experience.

Don Richardson, another Venetian executive involved in the incident, surfaced as the director of operations at the Wildfire, a small casino owned by Station Casinos Inc.

Station officials said the company's regulatory compliance department investigated the matter and determined that Richardson was suitable for the position.

Mok told the Control Board in July that he has been unemployed since the incident. Like Ma, Mok said he was blinded by his loyalty to his employer and made some poor choices.

"I've reached the age that I'm no longer interested in working in the gaming industry," Ma told regulators before their vote. "I don't have any intention of going back to the industry."

And the board and the commission were intent on making sure he kept his word.

Richard N. Velotta covers tourism for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4061 or by e-mail at velotta@lasvegassun.com.