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Michigan regulators have continued their push to eradicate offshore casinos from the state, sending cease and desist letters to a further five operators.

The Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) has given BetWhale Casino, Coins Game Casino, and Love 2 Play, all based in Curaçao, Black Lotus Casino (Belize), and Orion Stars 777 Players (China) 14 days to leave the state.

The regulator asserts that all five are breaking multiple state laws, including the Lawful Internet Gaming Act, the Michigan Gaming Control and Revenue Act and the Michigan Penal Code.

Collectively, the websites offer a variety of casino games, as well as sports betting.

“These illegal platforms not only violate Michigan’s gaming regulations but also put consumers at risk by offering unreliable withdrawal options and lacking essential consumer protections,” stated MGCB Executive Director Henry Williams.

Michigan takes hard line on offshore casinos

In his statement, Williams added that the regulator’s top priority..

The iGaming industry must no longer shy away from the issue of fake games in order to educate players on the stark danger they present, according to Duncan Garvie, Head of ADR Services at CasinoReviews.com.

Speaking to iGaming Expert, at the recent Deal Me Out Conference, Garvie explained that it’s time to start “shining a light” on the issue in a bid to protect consumers.

He said: “For a lot of years, we avoided talking about fake games for the good reason that we didn’t want to inadvertently promote unscrupulous operators. But we’ve tried that for a decade and it has not worked.

“We need to find another viable strategy and education is going to have to become a part of that. That means that we need to do better at communicating to consumers about how they differentiate between a licensed and unlicensed operator and it means we need to do better at communicating to consumers what the risks are when they go unlicensed.”

As Garvie previously detailed to iGaming Expert, fake games h..

AG Communications Limited, which trades as AspireGlobal and runs 58 websites, is to pay £1,407,834 after a UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) investigation identified social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) failures.

As part of its settlement with the UKGC, AG Communications will pay the money to socially responsible causes.

This is also the second time AG Communications has been subject to regulatory action by the UKGC, as the operator paid £237,600 for AML failures in 2022.

“This case marks the second occasion that this operator has been subject to enforcement action,” commented John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement.

“Its failure to uphold anti-money laundering standards, delays in necessary interventions, and deficiencies in social responsibility measures are wholly unacceptable.”

The UKGC stated that AG Communications’ social responsibility failures included not having effective systems to stop customers from spending significant amounts in a short period be..

The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gambling authority, was entitled to reject a licence application from a Maltese operator after learning that one of its former shareholders was suspected of being involved in a high-profile murder, a court in the Hague has ruled.

The unnamed operator had originally applied for a licence to enter the Dutch market in 2023, only for the KSA to rule that the company fell short when it came to the country’s integrity test. The operator reacted by taking the regulator to court in a bid to overturn the decision, but a judge has now ruled in favour of the KSA.

Key to the shortcomings in the operator’s application was the lack of information supplied about a specific former shareholder in the company.

The regulator came to the conclusion that there was insufficient information in the company’s statements and that it had also made false reports, which caused it to reject the application. The Court found that the basis for reaching that decision was ju..