Report: UNLV rejected offer to pay Matthew Sluka $100,000 from casino executives

The saga of Matthew Sluka’s departure from UNLV was apparently attempted to be resolved with an outside party — executives from Circa, a Vegas-based casino and sportsbook operator — offering to pay Sluka the $100,000 he was apparently promised by a UNLV assistant coach, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The offer came forth this week after Sluka announced on Tuesday evening he would be leaving the team, redshirting and intended to transfer after feeling he was not getting paid as promised. The UNLV NIL collective has thoroughly denied that there was ever a deal for Sluka to earn $100,000 to play for the Runnin’ Rebels.

And as the Sluka situation started to unfold and come into focus, two executives at Circa — CEO Derek Stevens and VP of operations Mike Palm — decided they could step into the breech and offer the money necessary to keep Sluka in town.

With UNLV undefeated and ranked, Palm told the Review-Journal that he and Stevens didn’t think the $100,000 price tag was too much to try to keep a potential College Football Playoff contender on the tracks.

“Derek and I talked about the situation and thought it would be worth it for $100,000 to keep the Rebels’ playoff hopes alive,” Palm said to the Review-Journal on Thursday.

Their advances to the Rebels were quickly rebuffed, Palm said, as the relationship between Sluka and the school has already soured to a point where a return seems unlikely, if not impossible. UNLV officials confirmed the call took place, per the Review-Journal.

UNLV plans to move ahead with Hajj-Malik Williams as the new starting quarterback.

Sluka announced his departure on social media earlier in the week.

“I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and hope for the continued success of the program.”

His agent, Marcus Cromartie of Equity Sports, told On3’s Pete Nakos that UNLV had promised Sluka the $100,000 while he and his reps negotiated for a higher figure, closer to $150,000, but were unsuccessful.

“When I had the conversation with the offensive assistant who was doing Matt’s recruitment, we talked about a number north of $100,000 to $150,000,” Cromartie said. “This was a number that I was told would be given to Matt to come there.”

When Sluka still did not have a deal midway through training camp, according to Cromartie, he reached back out to UNLV to reopen negotiations.

“I reached out to the coaches halfway through camp,” he said. “I reached out politely, ‘Hey, I understand you guys are midway through camp. It’s a quarterback competition, but the NIL agreement hasn’t been sent out. Can we speak on this?’

“Nothing was said back for a couple of weeks ago. I approached them again. I said, ‘Hey, you know what’s going on?’ I even offered to meet them halfway. I said, ‘I understand that trying to get $100,000 within the next four months may be hard, but can we get him $10,000 a month?’ They said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘How about $5,000?’ They came back with, ‘We can give them $3,000 a month for the next four months. Take it or leave it.’”