The Michigan Gaming Control Board has sent cease-and-desist letters to 33 offshore operators illegally offering online casino games, sweepstakes and sports betting to Michigan residents without a state licence.
Recipients include Azartzona Casino, Basepoker, BingoMania, mBit Casino, Raging Bull Slots, Sloto'Cash and Stardust. The regulator highlighted a particular risk for self-excluded players: licensed operators must honour the Internet Gaming and Sports Betting Responsible Gaming Database, offshore sites do not. A person who voluntarily banned themselves from gambling can open an account and deposit on an illegal site, often unaware it operates outside state law.
'The decision to self-exclude is one of the hardest and bravest a person can make. Michigan's legal market respects that. Offshore sites do not. They'll take a deposit from someone who asked for help, and the MGCB can't get that money back,' said MGCB executive director Henry Williams.
Black-market scale
Americans wager $673.6 bn annually with illegal and unregulated operators, including offshore sites, according to American Gaming Association data from August 2025. The illegal market has grown 22% since 2022, driven largely by a sharp rise in online casino play. The share of online casino players using only legal sites fell from 52% in 2022 to 24%; almost half now use both legal and illegal platforms, three times more than before.
In sports betting, $84 bn goes to illegal bookmakers and offshore operators. One in ten bettors uses them exclusively. 70% of bettors placing most of their wagers with illegal operators believed they were using legal bookmakers or splitting their action evenly.
