Last updated: December 16, 2024
Arizona has issued a cease and desist order to Bovada, an offshore gambling platform, accusing it of illegal gambling, money laundering, and operating a felony enterprise.
Bovada, an online casino operating out of Curacao, on the Caribbean island, allowing illegal gambling in the United States, has been instructed to shut down by state gaming regulators. On Tuesday, Arizona became the seventeenth U.S. jurisdiction to issue a cease and desist order to Harp Media B.V., which owns Bovada.
According to a press release by the Arizona Department of Gaming, it explained that Bovada is allegedly an organized criminal enterprise that engages in business running an illegal gambling operation prohibited by state law. Bovada allegedly promotes, exercises control over, and engages in monetary transactions affecting interstate commerce, which were conducted with this unlawful activity in violation of state and federal law, all crimes of which are felonies.
“We are actively monitoring the evolving landscape of online gaming, and taking proactive steps like this will help us protect Arizona’s communities and economy from these types of illegal activities,” said ADG Director Jackie Johnson. “Our enforcement team is committed to stopping unauthorized operations from establishing a foothold in this state. Arizona will not be a haven for unlicensed or illegal gaming, and we will not allow rogue organizations to compromise the integrity of gaming in our state.”
The ADG’s cease and desist instruction requires Bovada to end all online gaming operations and activity in Arizona instantly. Bovada complied because its website now lists Arizona as a prohibited jurisdiction.
The legal and regulated gaming industry always mentions that the industry is under threat from illegal operators. The offshore gaming websites, among them Bovada that was formerly known as Bodog, target players in prohibited states where online casino play is concerned.
With players facing virtually no risk of prosecution for their involvement following several years of conducting unlawful slot and table games online, state gaming officials are now targeting these illicit operations. Even though Bovada is currently illegal in 16 states and Washington, D.C., the new concern is sweepstakes casinos.
Sweepstakes claim to be social gaming or free-to-play fun money games. The characterization is misleading, though, as the applications allow the players to obtain a secondary digital currency that may be used to play the interactive games and also redeemed for cash.
Gambling on computer or mobile slots and table games is permitted solely through licensed online operators in the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. Gaming regulators continue to warn the public that gambling on an offshore casino website or sweeps casino lacks important consumer safeguards like fair play and the ability to withdraw funds. State gaming boards typically include a list of legal, regulated sites. Arizona does, and those platforms can be found here.
In addition to Arizona, Bovada has shut down its operations in Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington D.C., Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Companies like Bovada are viewed almost with contempt by the law, especially since operators such as DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and other notable iGaming and mobile sports wagering applications and websites have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing fees and taxes to establish their rights to the Internet. Meanwhile, Bovada pays no licensing fees or taxes in the United States.
