AGA Boss Says $300B Wagered Illegally in the US on Websites and Slot Machines

Details regarding a worrying trend about the existence of a $300 billion illegal gambling market in the US emerged last week during the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, one of the gambling industry’s most-anticipated events of the year.

Billions Are Lost to Illegal, Offshore Operators, Warns AGA

During the G2E last week, the American Gaming Association’s CEO, Bill Miller, revealed that next month a white paper will be released uncovering a worrying trend about an illegal gambling market in the US, according to a recent report by The Nevada Independent. The AGA estimates that more than $300 billion are wagered annually through illegal and unregulated online and land-based gambling operations by Americans. Moreover, he revealed that this figure represents losses for licensed casino operators and at the same time deprives communities of much-needed support. Miller said that losses for communities are approximately $4 billion in taxes annually. On the other hand, he pointed out that operators lose some $15 billion in revenue to illegal gambling.

“It’s not about us. It’s about the broader impact. Illegal gambling costs communities an estimated $4 billion in taxes annually.“

Bill Miller, CEO of the American Gaming Association

Miller’s most recent announcement comes after only last month, the AGA released a Stop Illegal Gambling toolkit, reaffirming its goal to tackle illegal gambling. Upon releasing the tool kit last month, the Association revealed that 55% of the sports bettors who have placed a bet with an illegal operator believed they were using a legal operator. This is one of the reasons why the AGA introduced its campaign that seeks to get the message across to consumers and operators and discourage the use of illegal, offshore operators.

Without any doubt, using illegal operators poses a threat to online consumers. This is because such operators do not need to abide by any regulations such as fair odds. In some cases, illegal or offshore operators can even refuse to hand out big payouts to their customers. On a separate note, while licensed operators offer responsible gambling tools, encourage safer play and abide by self-exclusion programs, this is not the case for illegal operators.

Children Enjoying Gambling Machines

But it’s not only the AGA that identified a worrying trend. Again at the G2E, Penn Entertainment’s CEO, Jay Snowden, alerted that there are thousands of unlicensed gambling machines. Snowden revealed that members of his team visited different locations around Pennsylvania and uncovered thousands of unlicensed gambling machines.

Venues such as bars, convenience stores and other locations offered unlicensed gambling, Snowden warned. What is more worrying, Penn National’s boss said, that his members were able to take photos of children enjoying such gambling machines. Snowden pointed out that his team members saw “online lottery products that are supposed to be scratch tickets that have the look, sound and feel of a spinning real (slot) machine.”