This week it was revealed that 28 members of the US House of Representatives have signed a letter addressed to the US Attorney General Merrick Garland, urging the Department of Justice to shut down the operations of betting sites Bovada, MyBookie, and BetOnline.
The letter was penned by the co-chairs of the Congressional Gaming Caucus Rep. Dina Titus and Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, and called the three sites "predatory operations" that don't take steps to protect players and keep tax revenues from being generated. The letter complained that odds from the three sites are "frequently cited in reputable sports media channels", and look and operate in a legitimate manner that makes them indistinguishable from regulated sites.
The representatives called on Garland to investigate and prosecute those involved with the sites, and to help promote educating Americans on the potential harm of betting with unregulated sportsbooks.
This move was heralded by the American Gaming Association, a trade body in the United States. In a statement, the AGA's CEO Bill Miller said, "Offshore gambling websites are a significant threat to consumer protections and the economic benefits legal gaming provides for communities across the country. Eradicating these websites, and all forms of illegal gambling is one of AGA's top priorities.
"After our initial outreach to the Department of Justice in April, today's letter to Attorney General Garland demonstrates the broad interest in addressing illegal gaming. We are grateful to Gaming Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Titus and Reschenthaler for their leadership and the Members who joined this call to action."
Comments
The key wording here is that they're concerned about tax revenues, because of course they are. I'm not saying that Bovada or whoever else shouldn't be operating in states where online betting is regulated, but let's not pretend this is some holy roller crusade for the politicians. It's about being able to get tax money to fund whatever projects they want.
Full stop.
Yeah I agree with you slim, definitely something else going on there. Because I'm sure that if they're going after casinos that "don't protect players" the list would be much longer than that.
Completely agree with both of you. With the huge list of Casino's not just online but the brick and mortar casino's also. How many of them actually, truly go above and beyond and have the players well being first and foremost as a priority. You could probably count them on one hand.
So if these politicians actions are genuine then , like it was mentioned above, why isnt this list much longer.