Bovada expected to pack up and leave Connecticut

The sense of comity that existed between the offshore and regulated gambling market in the United States is coming to its expected end.

Now that lawmakers are more aware of how gambling works, and the threat that offshore bookmakers pose to the regulated market, they are also more willing to act to counterweigh it. This is good news for consumers and regulated businesses, but puts the offshore market on even thinner ice.

Bovada will most likely be asked to leave Connecticut

Bovada, one of the most prominent offshore betting and gaming companies that accepts a range of wagers and hosts a huge variety of online games of chance, is being asked to leave Connecticut by the state’s Department of Consumer Protection.

The news was first shared by Sports Betting Dime, an industry publication, that covers the gambling market. According to the publication, Harp Media B.V., the Curacao-based company that operates Bovada is about to receive a cease-and-desist letter from the department, asking it to wind down operations locally.

The move comes only a few weeks after Bovada was faced with a similar case in Michigan when the Michigan Gaming Control Board also asked the company to wind down operations within a 14-day window.

This was noted in a cease-and-desist letter that the operator received from the watchdog. The two-week period to comply has already lapsed, and Bovada must be off boundaries for Michigan players.

Offshore bookmakers have no problem with geofencing

Geo-fencing, as the measure is known, is not too much of an issue for Bovada, which has already deployed it successfully in several other states including New Jersey and New York, along with a few others, such as Delaware, Maryland, and Nevada.

Without a legal notice handed down to Bovada just yet, much of this news rests on the speculation shared by the media, but it appears to be true.

Image credit: Bovada