AGA Asks DOJ to Pursue Offshore iGaming Sites but Will Not Lobby for US iGaming
It is natural that many online poker players don’t know much about the American Gaming Association. The AGA has never been a staunch supporter of state-regulated online poker in America. In fact, after flirting with online poker law possibilities after Black Friday, the AGA publicly flipped and said it would not support online gaming in the US market.
That said, the news this month that the AGA asked the United States Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute offshore internet gaming and sports betting websites was confusing. The AGA wants to shut down all offshore gambling opportunities for US players but not promote the legalization of state-regulated igaming. The organization has been unwilling to even acknowledge poker as a game of skill to differentiate it from other forms of gambling.
Since the Poker Players Alliance folded, online poker has had no advocacy group specifically dedicated to poker in the US market. Poker Central bought the PPA and relabeled it the Poker Alliance, but that fell apart soon after. The iDevelopment and Economic Association (iDEA) organization does support “growth through regulated online gaming.” Recently, it has been working closely with former PPA head and current Corridor Consulting CEO John Pappas to promote state-regulated igaming.
That is as close as online poker will get to advocacy in the US market.
And at the same time, the AGA, which has a great deal of influence in Congress, will not advocate for state-regulated, interstate online poker.
Dear DOJ
The American Gaming Association sent its letter to United States Attorney General Merrick Garland at the US Department of Justice on April 13, 2022. AGA President & CEO William Miller Jr signed it.
The spread of illegal gambling must be stopped. Today’s @AmericanGaming letter to the DOJ is an important step in getting officials in Washington to take action. https://t.co/6ZKCUqs6sl
— Bill Miller (@BillMillerAGA) April 14, 2022
The letter explained two primary concerns.
First, the AGA addressed “illegal online sportsbooks and casinos.” It blamed PASPA – the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act that the US Supreme Court overturned in 2018 – for the prevalence of offshore sports betting sites. Now that 33 states have authorized state-regulated sports betting, the AGA wants sites like Bovada, MyBookie, and BetOnline investigated for continuing business with US bettors. It then made a series of unprovable allegations against offshore online casinos.
Second, the AGA pointed out that some slot-style machines that claim to offer skill games operate in “gray areas” of the law. These machines allow players to spin the reels to win prizes. However, by calling them games of skill, they skirt the laws. Again, the AGA then made more unverifiable claims linking said machines to criminal activity.
To be fair, this is not the first time the AGA brought the machines issue to the attention of the US DOJ.
Ultimately, the AGA asked the DOJ in this April 2022 letter to “make it a priority to act on the two areas” that it outlined “to protect American consumers, crack down on illegal operators, and enforce federal regulations.”
Illegal gambling operators provide no consumer protections and gain a competitive advantage by paying no taxes or regulatory costs.
Read why the AGA is calling for increased action to fight the spread of illegal gambling: https://t.co/lV1xoXh9Fb
— American Gaming Association (@AmericanGaming) April 18, 2022
Numbers and Evidence?
The AGA made a lot of claims in its letter. With regard to online casinos, two of those claims are serious and sweeping.
- “The games offered by these sites do not meet testing or regulatory standards to ensure fair play and payouts, age-verification, or security of personal and financial data.”
This is a generalization with no evidence. Many offshore sites are licensed by gambling regulators like Curacao eGaming or the government of Costa Rica. They obtain certifications for fair gameplay and random number generator verifications from companies like iTech Labs.
Reputable offshore sites hold themselves to high standards and those of the industry in general because to ignore those standards would ensure failure. Poker players know when gameplay is not fair, and the poker community will rally to call out evidence of unfair or illegal practices. Sites have not been able to maintain solid customer bases for twenty-plus years by ignoring industry standards.
- “Jurisdictions with authorized gaming implement rigorous responsible gaming protections and widely offer self-exclusion lists to assist users who may have difficulty controlling their play – but clearly the illicit platforms do not implement such lists and as a result, the most vulnerable users are likely to end up using these options.”
Setting aside the poorly-worded sentence, it is important to state that reputable online poker and gaming/betting sites not only inform players of responsible gambling information but offer self-exclusion and other safe gambling tools.
The claims that offshore sites breed criminal activity, that “illegal operators fueled other criminal activity,” are simply not true. They are not provable statements.
Do offshore online poker and betting sites maintain the absolute highest standards in the world? Probably not. But most are not flouting industry standards, either. Most of them would like to be a part of an open and competitive market, but the United States is one of many countries that does not offer one.
Remember Black Friday?
Of course, everyone in the poker world remembers the day in 2011 that the US government seized the largest online poker sites in the world.
What some often forget is that PokerStars was the one of them that made things right in the end.
Say what you want about PokerStars operating in the US market up until Black Friday, but there is no denying that PokerStars is the only one of the seized sites that put players first. It did was what necessary to reopen the site for non-US players and show that all players’ monies were safe. It worked closely with the US government to agree on a settlement that allowed it to remit payment to US players. When Full Tilt sank quickly after the seizures, PokerStars bought it and arranged to repay Full Tilt players. And when UltimateBet and Absolute Poker disappeared, PokerStars asked and received approval to pay those players with the money it gave to the US government.
Since then, sites like PokerStars have gone out of their way to comply with new and ever-changing regulations in the tiniest of markets, all with the greater business in mind.
Yet and still, organizations like the AGA will not stand up for even companies like PokerStars. More than 11 years after Black Friday, the AGA still will not advocate for online poker and gaming in the US.
What Can the AGA Do?
There are numerous ways for the AGA to support the legalization of online poker in America, both on the federal and state levels.
Studies have shown igaming to be complementary to land-based gambling operations. Legalized igaming – with opt-outs available, obviously – would benefit and enhance gambling experiences. States like New Jersey and Pennsylvania have shown this to be true. A public acknowledgment of this fact would go a long way to dispelling myths about igaming and overcoming the antiquated views of some lawmakers.
The AGA boasts in its opening paragraph of the DOJ letter that it represents the $261B US casino industry, consisting of 1.8M jobs. The organization represents everyone in that industry from gaming suppliers to equipment manufacturers and even – gulp – sports wagering operators. Would it be so difficult to scoop up online poker – and online casino games that provide the most substantial revenue – and include that in advocacy efforts?
Even a public acknowledgment that online poker is a predominantly skill-based game would go some distance on the little industry segment’s behalf.
Clearly, the AGA has pull, both on the state and national level. Its letter to the DOJ copied Members of the Congressional Gaming Caucus, House and Senate Judiciary Committees, and House and Senate Subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, and State Appropriation. The Congressional Gaming Caucus, in particular, relaunched in 2020 due, in large part, to the AGA’s influence.
Considering the importance of online gaming for states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey during the Covid-19 casino lockdowns of 2020, one might think that the AGA could take a second look at supporting online poker and casino games.
At one time, the AGA made a case for online poker. Perhaps, it could do so again.
