AGA Puts Offshore Sportsbooks in the Spotlight

It is no secret that the offshore betting industry has been booming in the United States. While this was initially because of the tight restrictions in many states, many players still use these platforms. That applies even to states where online gambling has since been legalized.  Now, the offshore sports betting sector is getting some renewed attention.

Bill Miller, the president and CEO of the American Gaming Association (AGA), has recently written a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the DOJ pay some attention to illicit gaming in the country. This includes offshore sportsbooks.

In the letter, the AGA’s chief executive highlighted the damage the association believes these unregulated operators represent to consumers, state economies, and the legal gaming sector. For that reason, the association proposes a crackdown on unregulated “skill game” machines as well as illicit internet sportsbooks and casinos.

Some of the offshore gambling firms that were mentioned in the letter include Bovada, MyBookie, and BetOnline. The AGA pointed out that these very popular offshore iGaming brands are brazenly violating federal and state laws.

What Now?

The kind of attention this has gotten is not surprising at all. While sports betting is currently authorized in 33 states, the available legal channels do not seem to be meeting the needs of all customers. Many people took to social media to express their thoughts on the matter and it was pretty clear that they were not impressed by the AGA’s move.

If we look at this objectively, making the locally-regulated and legal sportsbooks a viable choice for many sports bettors is the only way to dissuade them from patronizing offshore sportsbooks. So far, the American Gaming Association does not seem to be too focused on a framework that would include the bettors in the conversation.

Moreover, the offshore sports betting operators seem to be just doing a better job of promoting themselves. This is likely because they can afford to provide higher odds. Operators in the United States, a very lucrative market, often must deal with high state and federal tax rates. Even if they opt to hire specialists to bring their brands to the top of search engine result pages, the odds offered by offshore sites will still be better.

Many people also have complaints against the state-regulated online sports betting operators. It is counterproductive for the AGA to come in and demand action against the offshore operators without also asking for the legitimate bookmakers to review their practices, which just serve to push bettors to the site they are lobbying against.