Utah AG Derek Brown leads coalition asking DOJ to crack down on illegal offshore gaming

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah Attorney General Derek Brown led a bipartisan effort to urge the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to address the spread of illegal offshore gaming across the country.

The bipartisan, multistate coalition consisted of 50 attorney generals, and they signed a letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. The letter requested the DOJ “address the rampant spread of illegal offshore gambling operations across the United States.”

The letter goes on to state that the states have heard reports of growth of these illegal offshore gambling markets, which they say could be harming citizens by exposing them to gambling without consumer protections. Additionally, these businesses “undermine the rule of law, threaten consumer protection, and deprive our States of significant tax revenues and economic benefits.”

The letter is requesting that the DOJ deploy “robust legal tools” to get illegal offshore gaming under control, such as blocking access to illegal websites and payment processing mechanisms. The DOJ can also seize assets of these operations, including servers, websites, domains, and proceeds.

Finally, the attorneys general are requesting that the DOJ coordinate with states, financial institutions, and payment processors to block illegal transactions and “dismantle” the financial infrastructure of these illegal operations.

What is illegal offshore gaming?

Illegal offshore gaming primarily refers to online sports betting and gaming operations–gambling operations. Those services are usually run by “massive, foreign-based companies,” the letter states.

According to the letter sent to the DOJ, these offshore gaming services routinely operate without proper licenses, offer limited or non-existent consumer protections, do not verify user age, ignore state boundaries, and evade tax obligations.

Illegal offshore gaming also exposes young people and vulnerable adults to addictive gambling without any oversight or accountability. They undercut state-regulated markets and can be linked to money laundering, human trafficking, and other illegal activities.

The attorneys general cite recent estimates showing that illegal online gaming volume amounts to more than $400,000 billion per year, which means more than $4 billion in tax revenue for state governments is lost.