(The Center Square) − Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has joined a bipartisan coalition of 50 attorneys general in urging the U.S. Department of Justice to take swift action against illegal offshore gambling operations that have proliferated across the country, endangering consumers and depriving states of billions in tax revenue.
The call for federal enforcement comes in a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in which the attorneys general request that DOJ deploy stronger legal tools to combat the surge of foreign-based online gaming platforms operating outside the bounds of state and federal law.
“If you’re not licensed in Louisiana, then it’s illegal gaming,” Murrill said in a statement. “I joined my fellow attorneys general in requesting assistance from Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice to address the rampant spread of offshore gaming operations across our country.”
According to the letter, these platforms are often run by large, unlicensed companies headquartered overseas. They frequently fail to verify users’ ages, operate without consumer protections, ignore state boundaries, and evade taxation.
As a result, the attorneys general warn that vulnerable populations — including youth and problem gamblers — are exposed to fraudulent and addictive gaming environments without any oversight.
The coalition highlighted the massive scale of the issue, citing estimates that the illegal online gaming market now exceeds $400 billion annually and results in over $4 billion in lost tax revenue for states each year.
The letter also links illegal gambling platforms to broader criminal conduct, including money laundering and human trafficking.
Despite the size of the problem, enforcement actions by the DOJ have been “extremely limited” since 2013, the attorneys general note. They call on the department to:
Pursue injunctive relief under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act to block access to illegal websites and payment processing tools;Seize servers, domains, and assets linked to illegal gaming operations;Coordinate with state governments, banks, and credit card companies to cut off the financial infrastructure supporting these enterprises.
The letter references successful DOJ actions in unrelated cybercrime cases as a blueprint for a broader crackdown. It also notes that Visa and Mastercard have expressed willingness to work with law enforcement to block unlawful gambling transactions.
