Utah News Dispatch
50 attorneys general ask DOJ to step up against illegal online gambling
The office of the Utah Attorney General at the Capitol in Salt Lake City is pictured on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, along with a bipartisan coalition of 49 other attorneys general, requested that the U.S. Department of Justice assist in their efforts to address what they described as a “rampant spread of illegal offshore gaming operations” across the country.
In a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Brown and his counterparts said that illegal online sports betting and gaming operations, widely run by foreign-based companies, could be harming residents in all 50 states, since they “routinely operate without proper licensure, offer limited or non-existent consumer protections, fail to verify user age, ignore state boundaries, and evade taxation obligations.”
The volume of illegal online gaming has exceeded $400 billion a year, the National Association of Attorneys General estimates — and over $4 billion in lost tax revenue for states.
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“Since 2013, USDOJ enforcement actions against illegal offshore gambling sites have been extremely limited,” the attorneys wrote. “We seek USDOJ’s cooperation and coordination to deploy robust legal tools to curb these unlawful enterprises.”
The Department of Justice is allowed to seize assets like servers, domains and proceeds that violate federal law, the letter says, an authority the department has used in at least two other fraud cases.
Additionally, the attorneys suggested the department work with major payment processors to cut off the companies’ access to the U.S. financial system.
“Both Visa and Mastercard have already signaled their willingness to investigate and address unlawful use of their networks for gambling transactions,” the letter says. “We should capitalize on this willingness to shut down illegal offshore gaming operations.”
The activity exposes vulnerable people to fraud and addictive gambling without oversight or accountability, the attorneys wrote, and has been linked to other serious crimes.
“Illegal offshore gaming operations are a breeding ground for criminal behavior, such as money laundering and human trafficking. These companies routinely flaunt Utah laws and put Utah consumers at risk,” Brown said in a statement. “Together we can take action against these foreign-based operations that wreak havoc on our communities, foster gambling addictions, and harm Utah consumers.”
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