Michigan’s gaming regulator has sent cease-and-desist letters to 33 offshore gambling operators that it found were offering casino-style games, sweepstakes-style games or sports betting to state residents without a Michigan licence.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board announced the action Oct. 8. It said the letters were aimed in part at a consumer-protection gap: licensed operators must honour the state’s Internet Gaming and Sports Betting Responsible Gaming Database, through which people can voluntarily exclude themselves from online gambling. Offshore sites have no such obligation.
People who have chosen to stop gambling can still open accounts, deposit money and wager on unlicensed sites, sometimes without knowing those sites operate outside Michigan law. Such customers also lack access to Michigan self-exclusion and deposit-limit tools, independent game-fairness testing, state-standard protections for personal and financial data, and recourse to the board when winnings are withheld or accounts are closed.
“Choosing to self-exclude is one of the hardest and most courageous decisions a person can make, and in Michigan’s legal market, that choice is respected,” Henry Williams, the board’s executive director, said. “Offshore sites don’t respect it.” He said the 33 letters put operators on notice that Michigan residents were not an untapped market.
Michigan’s Lawful Internet Gaming Act, Lawful Sports Betting Act and related statutes require companies to obtain an MGCB licence before offering internet gaming or sports wagering in the state. Operators that disregard the directives may face further enforcement action with the Michigan Department of Attorney General.
The action followed a larger round announced in April, when the board said it had sent cease-and-desist orders to 45 offshore operators over the preceding four months for unlawfully offering online casino games and sports wagering to Michigan residents.
The enforcement comes amid a broader illegal-gambling market that has expanded nationally. CDC Gaming, citing an August 2025 American Gaming Association analysis, reported that Americans wagered about $674 billion annually with illegal and unregulated operators, including offshore sites, up 22% from the association’s 2022 estimate. The analysis found the share of online-casino players using only legal sites had fallen from 52% in 2022 to 24%, while nearly half used both legal and illegal sites.
The same analysis estimated that $84 billion was wagered with illegal bookies and offshore sportsbooks during the study year. One in 10 sports bettors used only illegal sources, and earlier AGA consumer research found that 70% of bettors who made most of their wagers through illegal operators believed they were betting only with legal sportsbooks or were dividing their wagers evenly between legal and illegal sites.
