Louisiana Gaming Regulators Crack Down on Illegal Sports Betting, Gaming Operators

• The Louisiana Gaming Control Board issued 42 cease-and-desist letters to illegal operators
• The board focused on illegal sports betting, iGaming, and sweepstakes operators
• These included Fliff, VGW, and Bovada

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board delivered a series of cease-and-desist notices to illegal sports betting, iGaming, and sweepstakes operators in the Pelican State.

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board issued 42 cease-and-desist notices to illegal gambling operations that are violating Louisiana law and jeopardizing the integrity of the state’s gaming market.

“These actions send a clear message,” Christopher B. Hebert, Chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, said in a public notice. “Louisiana will not tolerate illegal operators who put our citizens at risk and undermine the fairness and integrity of our gaming industry. We will continue to use every enforcement tool available to protect the public and uphold the law.”

Board Cracks Down on Illegal Gaming

In coordination with the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office and the Louisiana State Police, Gaming Enforcement Division, the board issued 42 notices to offshore wagering platforms, online sweepstakes operators, and illegally operating iGaming companies that have circumvented state gaming laws and regulations.

Notably, Bovada, VGW, and Fliff received notice to cease operations in the state.

The following companies received cease-and-desist notices:

1. Harp Media B.V. d/b/a Bovada
2. Azure Ventures Limited
3. Bamboo Media, LTD and Arachis Media, LTD
4. Dama N.V. d/b/a Wild Casino
5. Golden Heart Games, Inc. d/b/a Golden Heart Games
6. GTBets
7. Heritage Sports
8. Joy Media Works, LLC d/b/a Zitobox
9. KHK Games, Inc. d/b/a Clubs Poker
10. Kickr Games Pty Ltd and Kickr Sweepstakes
11. MW Services Limited d/b/a Wow Vegas
12. OC Media Holdings LLC d/b/a One Country
13. Papaya Gaming Ltd. d/b/a Papaya Gaming
14. Regal Technologies, LLC d/b/a SweepSlots
15. Rolling Riches Ltd. d/b/a Rolling Riches Casino
16. Sweepstakes Limited
17. TD Investments Ltd. d/b/a Jumba Bet Casino
18. The WagerWeb Group d/b/a WagerWeb
19. VGW Holdings US, Inc., VGW Games, Ltd., and VGW Malta, Ltd.
20. Winning Poker Network
21. Yellow Social Interactive Ltd.
22. Youwager
23. 10 Ten Gaming, LLC d/b/a Smiles Casino and/or 10TEN Gaming LLC
24. BetAnySports
25. Diamond Sportsbook International d/b/a BetDSI
26. BetNow
27. Blue High House S.A.
28. BetUS
29. Wonder Play Company N.V. d/b/a BetWhale
30. Blazesoft Ltd.
31. BookMaker Sportsbook, Casino & Racebook d/b/a BookMaker
32. Precise IG Solutions B.V. d/b/a CoinPoker
33. CommissionKings
34. Duranbah Limited NV
35. Enchanted Studios, LLC d/b/a Enchanted Casinos
36. CitoPedia N.V. d/b/a Everygame
37. Fliff, Inc.
38. Social Gaming, LLC
39. Woopla, Inc. d/b/a funzpoints
40. Gold Coin Group, LLC d/b/a Chanced Casino
41. Genesys Technology N.V.
42. Imion Limited Casinos and/or Termas del Arapay Management S.A.

Additional enforcement actions will be taken as necessary to ensure compliance with state gaming laws.

Less Than a Week After Gov. Landry Veto

The crackdown came less than a week after Gov. Jeff Landry (R)  issued a veto for SB 181, a bill to ban dual-currency sweepstakes gaming and increase penalties for offering illegal gaming.

Landry noted in his veto message that the bill is unnecessary, as the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, Louisiana State Police Gaming Enforcement Division, and Louisiana Attorney General’s Office are already tasked with combating illegal gaming.

The bill, Gov. Landry noted, is overly broad and may impact efforts to deal with illegal gaming actors in the state.

“As such, this bill is a solution in search of a problem that is already being solved by our current system, and some of the language in this bill is overly board and could be interpreted in an adverse manner which may harm or impede our current enforcement actions taken against these bad actors,” he wrote.