Just a few weeks after the West Virginia Lottery Commission issued a cease-and-desist letter to Harp Media, B.V., Bovada’s parent company based in Curacao, Bovada’s website now includes West Virginia as one of the eight states where access is restricted. The other seven states where Bovada is restricted are: New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Maryland, Delaware, Michigan, and Colorado.
West Virginia is the latest of a recent flurry of states to take up the mantle against offshore competition, cracking down on Bovada, which is one of the most popular unregulated sportsbooks on the market. West Virginia issued a cease-and-desist order to Bovada on June 27, providing a 14-day compliance period before legal action would be pursued.
Under fire
Bovada first came under fire in May when the Michigan Gaming Control Board announced that it had sent a cease-and-desist letter to its parent company, marking the first regulatory body to take legal action against Harp Media B.V.
Colorado followed suit, and Bovada subsequently closed its operations in both the Colorado and Michigan sports betting markets.
Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection Gaming Division told Covers in mid-June that it would be sending a C&D to the offshore sportsbook operator, although the Connecticut sports betting market is not among the list of restricted jurisdictions on Bovada’s online sports betting site.
Calling in the big guns
Without a dedicated federal gaming regulator, the onus falls on the states to tackle unlicensed and/or unlawful gambling operators, but the industry’s biggest megaphone hopes to change that.
In April 2022, Bill Miller — President & CEO of the American Gaming Association — penned a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland that called for a crackdown on operators like Bovada.
Miller asserted that:
“While prosecutions and convictions may be difficult to secure, the AGA firmly believes that the Department can make a strong and meaningful statement by investigating and indicting the largest offshore operations that openly violate federal and state laws. This action would provide much-needed clarity that these websites are criminal enterprises, which can help to deter the American public from visiting these sites and prompt businesses to take appropriate action to ensure they are not supporting them.”
MyBookie and BetOnline could eventually be on the chopping block with Bovada in certain states that chose to continue their respective crackdowns on offshore operators.
