It appears that Bovada has complied with the Michigan Gaming Control Board’s cease-and-desist letter and shut down operations in the Great Lakes State. According to Bovada’s website, Michigan is a restricted state.
The MGCB sent the letter to Harp Media B.V. on May 29, giving the Curacao-based company 14 days upon receipt to close shop in Michigan. It’s unclear when the 14-day window began and expired. However, it looks like Bovada acted.
The MGCB has taken a harsh stance toward unregulated operators, aiming to eliminate all illegal gambling within the state. Shutting down Bovada is the latest step toward that goal.
Bovada puts Great Lakes State on restricted list
When cruising through the Help Center on Bovada’s website, the following message appears:
“Bovada remains open to United States residents, except for those living in Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Delaware, Michigan and Colorado.”
While it appears that Bovada’s run in the Great Lakes State is over, we recently had confirmation from multiple customers in Michigan that the site was not completely blocked. Users have been able to access odds and matchups without logging in.
One such customer, after successfully logging in on Monday, got the following message when attempting to do so again on Tuesday morning:
The message in the Help Center continued for players who have money in their account and are now unable to log in:
“Should you reside in a restricted state and still retain an account balance, please contact Customer Service for more information or to arrange a cryptocurrency withdrawal.”
This latest move affirms MGCB’s commitment to cracking down on unregulated operators in the state.
MGCB threatened Bovada with legal action
Since the MGCB is not moving forward with a lawsuit against Bovada, preventing Michiganders from accessing their accounts is satisfactory for the regulators. Residents can still access the site and look at numbers, but they can’t place a wager of any kind. .
On May 30, when the MGCB announced it had sent the cease-and-desist letter, it had sent a stern warning to Bovada should it not cooperate.
“Harp Media B.V. has 14 days from receipt of the letter to take steps to prevent Michigan residents from gambling on their websites or the MGCB will take legal action,” the press release said.
The MGCB had a number of legal options should Bovada have ignored the demand. According to Michael Lipton, senior partner in the Toronto office of Dickinson Wright, the MGCB could have “run the full gamut of sealed indictments, seizure of websites, seizing funds, if they’re available in the jurisdiction, name and shame, the cease and desist, and going after third-party facilitators.”
Luckily, it didn’t have to come to that, and Bovada complied. Earlier this month, the MGCB helped uncover illegal gambling at a bar in Saginaw.
It also shut down multiple locations in Flint earlier this year. The MGCB has made eliminating illegal gambling a top priority.
