Use of Illegal Gambling Sites Continues in the US

Recent years have seen massive expansion in the US sports betting industry. 37 American states have now gone down the legalization route. However, there are still millions of visits being made to illegal betting sites and this continues to put players at risk.

Betting at such sites was commonplace in the days when it was illegal to bet on sport. There was a long campaign to allow individual US states to be able to make the final decision on whether to legalize sports betting rather than the Federal Government.

2018 was a landmark year as a US Supreme Court Judge made a ruling that allowed the individual states to have that final say. As we mentioned in our opening paragraph, 37 US states have now made sports betting legal.

Why is it so important to legalize sports betting? Well, you need to look at how this legality affects both the states and gamblers. For the states it’s a financial matter that is extremely important and remains so. The process of making sports betting legal means licenses can be granted to gambling companies and these require a payment to be made. Not just a one-off one but also in time they need renewing and more payments required.

When the gambling sites begin operating, they need to pay tax on their revenue. This brings in massive amounts of money into the state coffers which is greatly appreciated of course. In 2023, the US sports betting handle was over $100 billion, according to agamble.com.Back in the day when people were gambling with illegal sites, this revenue simply wasn’t being received, all very frustrating.

As for the gamblers, if they register with a legal site then they are members of one that is not just licensed but also regulated. This improves customer protection as no license holder wants to have it taken away by the regulatory body.

Despite all the changes though, it was recently reported by Covers that over 201 million visits were made by gamblers to illegal betting sites across America. They can be betting on a wide variety of events including esports.

This figure is for the first three months of the current NFL season. That’s a time when the amount of revenue earned by gambling sites (legal or otherwise) sees a big improvement. The figures will go through the roof when the Super Bowl takes place.

These statistics show that the problem of unlicensed gambling sites is a long way from being extinguished. It’s a serious issue and reports state that it was discussed at a recent meeting held in Florida by the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States.

One major problem is the fact that it is still an easy task to access illegal offshore gambling sites. This is particularly happening in those US states that are yet to make sports betting legal. It’s not always the easiest of processes to legalize sports betting with there being plenty of opposition to it happening. Those who do wish to bet therefore head to the illegal sites.

Lindsay Slader is a senior vice president of compliance at GeoComply. Speaking after the recent College Football playoff semifinal matches, she stated that “anybody who wanted to bet this past weekend” did just that even if living in Georgia where sports betting is yet to be legalized. The senior vice president added: “Just because there’s regulated gambling in the United States of America, doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening. There’s still plenty of options.”

The most popular offshore betting site used is Bovada.lv. Slader with a reported 115 million visits between September and November of last year. MyBookie and BetOnline are the next popular ones that continually receive visits from US gamblers, sharing around £35,000 of the market.

Advertising is so important in a highly competitive industry. Bovada is allowed to do this and that isn’t pleasing the American Gaming Association. They have been in touch with Google concerning this issue. The question is how difficult would Google find it to check if a gambling company advertising their products in the US were licensed to operate.

Slader also commented on how many attempts there had been to access regulated sites in Georgia. A total of 1.5 million was recorded, just less than the 1.7 million in Nebraska where online sports betting is yet to be made legal. She said of Nebraska: “I have no idea what’s going on there, but definitely a lot of folks driving to Omaha to place those bets.”