50 State Attorneys General Urge DOJ to Crack Down on Illegal Offshore Gaming

A bipartisan coalition of 50 state attorneys general, led by officials including Utah's Derek Brown, Arkansas' Tim Griffin, Nebraska's Mike Hilgers, and Pennsylvania's Dave Sunday, has urged the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to take stronger action against illegal offshore gaming operations proliferating across the United States. These illicit online gambling enterprises, often foreign-based, operate without proper licensing, lack consumer protections, evade tax obligations, fail to verify user age, and disregard state boundaries, posing significant risks to vulnerable populations such as young people and problem gamblers. The coalition's letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi highlights the extensive harm caused by these operations, including billions in lost tax revenue—estimated at over $4 billion annually—and links to criminal activities like money laundering and human trafficking. They call on the DOJ to deploy robust legal tools, such as blocking access to illegal websites, seizing assets including servers and domains, and coordinating with financial institutions to dismantle the financial infrastructure that supports these illegal businesses. The attorneys general emphasize the need to protect the rule of law, consumer safety, and state economies by curbing the unprecedented growth of these illicit online gambling markets. The coalition criticizes the limited DOJ action since 2013 and stresses that coordinated federal and state efforts are crucial to stopping these harmful enterprises.