Although sports betting has been legalized in 37 US states, illegal gambling operations still proliferate in the states that do not allow this type of gambling. As reported by Covers, more than 201 million visits to illegal betting sites in America were recorded for the first three months of the NFL season alone to confirm that the illegal gambling activities still pose a threat to the competent authorities and regulated markets across the States.

201 Million Visits to Offshore Operators:

The issue was reportedly discussed at the recent meeting of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States held in Florida. According to lawmakers, illegal offshore gambling sites are still easily available for bettors from the states where sports betting is not allowed. Although the US sports betting handle exceeded $100 billion in 2023, Covers reports that there were as many as 201 million visits to illegal websites in the first three months upon the NFL season launch. As reported, these bets were placed from the US states where gambling legislation has not passed.

After the recent College Football Playoff semifinals games, Lindsay Slader, senior vice president of compliance at GeoComply, reportedly said:“Anybody who wanted to bet this past weekend, they did, even if they were in Georgia. Just because there’s regulated gambling in the United States of America, doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening. There’s still plenty of options.”

Leading Offshore Websites:

As reported by Covers, the most popular offshore betting site in the U.S. was Bovada.lv. Slader reportedly said that this operator had around 115 million visits in the period from September to November 2023, inclusive to stand for more than 57% of all offshore visits from US bettors. She added that they also wagered with MyBookie and BetOnline that drew 50 million and, respectively, 20 million visits over the same period. These two websites collectively took around 35% of the entire offshore traffic with other similar operators collectively only taking an 8% share, or around 16 million visits.

GeoComply’s Vice President also said:“If you look at the NFL season that started in September, almost 202 million visits to these sites gives you a little sense of how popular they still are for Americans. You’ve got sports betting legal in 30-something states and a handful that have online casino or poker, but there’s still a whole lot of folks that don’t have those regulated options yet.”

As Bovada, the offshore betting leader, is still free to operate and advertise in many states,  Slader reportedly commented: “I know the American Gaming Association has had discussions about how hard would it be for Google to be checking whether or not the company that wants to advertise has a license somewhere in America to operate. That’s a commitment that I think advertisers need to make all over our industry to move in the right direction.”

Significant Visits:

Slader spoke on behalf of GeoComply, the data company specialized in locating users of regulated online sites. Since the NFL launch in September 2023, the company found 1.5 million attempts to access regulated sites in Georgia, as well as 1.7 million similar attempts in Nebraska. Slader reportedly said: “Which is a significantly large number for the population in Nebraska. I have no idea what’s going on there, but definitely a lot of folks driving to Omaha to place those bets.”

As Covers reports, Oklahoma followed with 380,000 attempts, the number similar to those from Quebec that attempted to place bets in the regulated Ontario market. According to the source, the large number of bets placed with unregulated operators represent a huge revenue missed out by the regulated sports betting industry. The 201 million visits seen during the first three months of the NFL season would have additionally boosted the $100 billion record hit by the US sports betting industry in 2023 had these bets been placed with regulated operators.