The Michigan Gaming Control Board or the MGCB recently issued cease and desist orders against 14 local businesses that have been offering illegal gambling activities in the last year. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office helped issue the orders.
These businesses are located in six counties including Kent County, Macomb County, Oakland County, Genesee County, Lapeer County, and Washtenaw County. Four of the businesses are found in Oakland County.
The investigation showed that these businesses only claim to have been offering redemption games that are allowed in the state. However, it was discovered that these businesses were also offering video slots machines to their goers. Such machines are illegal in the state as they are classified as games of chances rather than skills.
The businesses had two options when it comes to facing the consequences. They could either choose to shut down their businesses or go to trial and face criminal charges. Illegal gambling charges can result in up to 10 years of prison term. All businesses chose to close their operations instead.
Online gambling isn’t exactly illegal in the United States. Only the local operations are prohibited in the majority of the states in the US. This means that Americans can still gamble online as long as they do these on offshore-based casinos and sportsbooks. Currently, only a few states allow local operations of either online casinos and/or sportsbooks.
Currently, many of the Americans are still wagering on offshore online casinos and enjoy the bonuses that these casinos. SilentBet has the details about Bet9ja bonus offers that are great for offshore online casino gamblers.
MGCB’s executive director Richard S. Kalm made a statement regarding illegal gambling activities and why it’s not good for the community. He said, “Illegal gambling can lead to money laundering and other crimes that impact the safety and security of Michigan communities. Legal gambling is taxed and regulated, and taxes go back into the community as funding for K-12 education. An illegal gambling operation doesn’t support the community but instead siphons funds away from it.”
Attorney General Nessel also released a statement. She said, “Gambling regulations are in place for a reason, and when bad actors choose to ignore the law, they must be held accountable. We’re grateful for the opportunity to work with our partners at the Michigan Gaming Control Board in putting a stop to these illegal operations.”
This may seem like the state is completely against gambling activities, but not really. The state just really wants to make sure that the community benefits from these activities as after all, this is definitely a great source of tax revenues.
The truth is that Michigan is actually heading towards the legislation of gambling activities like sports betting.
Before 2019 ended, Michigan became the 20th state to finally sign sports betting into law. This means that the locals can finally enjoy the services of legal casinos and sportsbooks operators within the state. This includes in-person and online wagering.
For now, only in-person betting is known to be rolled out this year. This is because regulations are already prepared for this. Online sports betting may have to wait for another year, according to MGCB’s spokesperson Mary Kay Bean. This means that the locals still can’t place local bets for this year’s Super Bowl and other sports tournaments.
Bean explained that the legislation of sports betting in the state is just really the start of the process. There are still many things to be discussed and ground rules to set. All in all, it may take a full year before concrete regulations can be set for online sports betting. And so, the locals of the state will still have to wait a bit before they can place their online bets in their own state.
For now, they can still place bets offshore but know that Michigan won’t benefit from that yet. Precautionary steps should also be taken as jurisdictions where these offshore online casinos are operating is definitely different from the US. Avoiding shady operators is a must and casino site reviews should be checked to avoid any problems.
Until the state of Michigan launches legal sports betting and online casino activities, offshore gaming is still the only option for the locals. Unless they want to travel in states like New Jersey and Nevada where they can freely bet on sports and play casino games online. However, it’s still a big step that Michigan is taking towards legal gambling. It won’t be impossible that the state will eventually legalize and regulate most gambling activities in Michigan.
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