- Utah Attorney General Derek Brown is leading a bipartisan effort against illegal gambling.
- The coalition of attorneys general urges the Department of Justice to tackle offshore gaming operations.
- Illegal gambling costs states $4 billion in lost taxes and harms communities, the coalition said.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Attorney General Derek Brown and 50 other attorneys general across the country are urging the Department of Justice to address illegal online gambling.
Brown co-led a bipartisan coalition with the other attorneys general who sent a letter urging the Department of Justice to address "the rampant spread of illegal offshore gaming across the country." The coalition emphasized a need to combat the harm illicit gambling has on the rule of law, consumers and the economy.
"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."
Illegal online sports betting and gaming operations are most often run by foreign-based companies that operate without proper licensing, the coalition said in its letter. The companies also fail to verify the age of users, offer limited consumer protections, ignore state boundaries and evade tax obligations to both the states and federal government, the attorneys general say.
"These unlawful platforms expose residents — particularly young people and vulnerable adults — to fraudulent schemes and highly addictive gambling without any oversight or accountability," the letter says.
It's estimated that illicit online gambling exceeds $400 billion in volume annually and leads to approximately $4 billion in lost tax revenues for states, the coalition said. Despite the significant cost, "enforcement has been scarce, only emboldening these illegal operators."
The attorneys general urged the Department of Justice to coordinate with states to "deploy robust legal tools to curb these unlawful enterprises."
Enforcement against illegal offshore gaming operations includes working with financial institutions and payment processors to block unlawful transactions and dismantle the financial infrastructure that supports the enterprises. The coalition said Visa and Mastercard have already shown a willingness to participate in enforcement against unlawful use of their networks for gambling transactions.
Additionally, the attorneys general seek injunctive relief and hope to seize assets the operators use to violate the law, such as servers, websites, domains and proceeds.
"While we as states do all we can to protect our citizens, such unlawful enterprises undermine the rule of law, threaten consumer protection and deprive our states of significant tax revenues and economic benefits," the letter says.
