Papaya Gaming gets targeted by Michigan over illegal gambling

Papaya Gaming, a company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, has got into hot water with authorities in Michigan, after the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) received an anonymous tip that the company is operating a series of illegal gambling products.

In a statement, the MGCB claims that Papaya Gaming is responsible for Solitaire Cash, Bubble Cash, Bingo Cash, and 21 Cash, mobile applications that the regulators consider to be an unlawful form of gambling. Accordingly, the regulator has released

Papaya Gaming faces swift enforcement action by the MGCB

According to the regulator, players may buy and win real money by playing these games, and the company has breached a number of prominent gambling laws, including the Michigan Gaming Control and Revenue Act, the Michigan Penal Code, and the Lawful Internet Gaming Act.

The cease-and-desist letter now issued to Papaya Gaming now grants the company 14 days to fold its operations and discontinue what the MGCB considers to be an illegal form of gambling.

In a comment published on the regulator’s official website, MGCB Executive Director Henry Williams stood firm and said that the regulator would not tolerate any form of illegal gambling and would take all necessary measures to prevent harm to consumers.

"The Michigan Gaming Control Board firmly believes in a regulated and safe gaming environment," Williams doubled down.

Papaya Gaming is a fairly new business. The company’s website says that it launched back in 2019 and that its products have been downloaded more than 37m times globally. The website also says that it hosts more than 15m tournaments on a single day!

The move from Michigan comes at a time when gambling regulators are particularly sensitive to forms of gaming that may be dodging the regulatory framework, but still allow an experience that broadly resembles gambling.

Gambling that poses as not gambling is increasingly targeted

For example, just earlier this week, the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection issued a cease-and-desist letter to Virtual Gaming Worlds (VGW), the operator of Chumba Casino and Luckyland Slots, citing the company’s business sweepstakes model as a form of gambling.

There has been growing criticism in the United States that many operators are using a round-about way to market gambling products without facing the same stringent criteria, nor fall under the same tax legislation.

This seems to be coming to an end as regulators all over the country are moving against the unlicensed gambling sector, including a just released cease-and-desist letter by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office against Bovada.

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