Bovada, one of the best-known iGaming and sports betting brands in the United States, and beyond, has faced a slew of challenges in the US market where local regulators have served the company with cease-and-desist letters, which have forced the operator to wind down activities in affected states.
Bovada’s Biggest Loss Is from Online Casino Revenue
As a result, Bovada is not available in 13 states and Washington DC presently, but more may follow. The most recent states to act against Bovada are Kansas, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, followed by Massachusetts. Bovada is officially out of all four but Massachusetts, which – when and if it happens – will be reflected in the website’s terms.
However, it is not the loss of the sports betting market that hurts Bovada specifically, but rather access to iGaming audiences, argues Dustin Gouker, a prominent industry expert who is also the founder of Closing Line Consulting.
Speaking to another industry publication, Casino Reports, Gourke noted that the loss of the sports betting market will definitely have a negative impact on Bovada, but that is not the crux of the issue, as offshore sports betting operators have already been giving ground to regulated sportsbooks in the United States.
The fact that gets “glossed over,” Gourke told the publication, is that Bovada is hurt in online casino revenue, and that stands to reason. Many of the states that asked Bovada to withdraw from the market had not been offering online casino gaming, meaning that the website was occupying an important part of the ecosystem, which is now denied to it.
AGA Wants a More Unified Approach
As individual states have been finding the time to address offshore gambling sites, the American Gaming Association has called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to act against the operator and use the federal power vested into the institution to order Bovada to withdraw.
AGA has called for the indictment of offshore gambling sites, including Bovada, as a way to force such brands out of the market at once.
However, Bovada is currently being attacked on multiple fronts and as regulators in the United States continue to exchange know-how, the site is most likely going to be ousted by the majority of states that have an advanced gambling framework in the next years whether the DOJ gets involved or not.
The point remains valid though – while Bovada is suffering loss in sports betting market, it’s the loss of online casino audiences that hurts the most.
While Bovada has not issued statements about the cease-and-desist letters itself, the company has acknowledged the legal action against it and changed its terms and conditions to reflect that it is not available in all sites that have acted against it.