The Louisiana Gaming Control became the latest state to demand Bovada Sportsbook stop accepting sports wagers in its state.
An Aug. 6 cease-and-desist letter sent to Harp Media, the Curacao-based owner of Bovada, has not been officially registered as received, however.
If Bovada complies, Louisiana would become the 12th US jurisdiction to successfully depose the most recognizable unlicensed sportsbook mining tax revenue out of its market. Ohio was the most recent, in late August.
US jurisdictions currently now on the Bovada restricted list:
- Connecticut
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New York
- Ohio
- Washington, D.C.
- West Virginia
Louisiana Hopes to Join Growing List
LGCB chairman Chris Hebert, during a regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 15, implored state regulators to help put Lousiana on the list.
Said Hebert: “Recently, our regulatory colleagues in states such as Michigan and Connecticut have sent similar letters, which have caused Bovada to restrict access to its site to residents of those respective states. It is my sincere hope that Louisiana will join the list of restricted states based on our letter, but also that soon the federal government will use its resources to crack down on companies that don’t have in place the regulatory, legal, and financial safeguards necessary to operate within the U.S. betting market.”
Launched in 2021, Louisiana sports betting has generated more than $700 million in revenue, according to the Gaming Today sports betting revenue tracker.
Illegal Betting Sites Still Siphoning US Dollars
A recent study published by the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health and Health Sciences underscored how lucrative operating offshore websites in the US can be, particularly if that state hasn’t pushed back. According to the report, the level of gambling on offshore sites has not decreased in Massachusetts since the state launched legal sports betting in 2023. Half polled said they would have continued using unregulated sites like Bovada even if sports betting was legalized.
Said researcher Rachel Volverg to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission: “Taken together, these data suggest that there has not been, or had not been in 2023, a substantial recapture of illegal sports betting revenues in Massachusetts between 2022 and 2023. However, as many jurisdictions internationally have found, it can take a substantial period of time for sports bettors to migrate fully from non-regulated to regulated providers.”
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