Michigan Sends Cease-and-Desists to 33 Offshore Operators and Warns Self-Exclusion Ends at Licensed Sites

The Michigan Gaming Control Board has written to 33 unlicensed casino, sweepstakes-style and sports betting sites, and this time it led with a player-protection argument: the state's self-exclusion database binds only licensed operators. Two of the names were already on the list it published in April.

• The Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) said on 8 October it has sent cease-and-desist letters to 33 offshore operators offering online casino, sweepstakes-style games or sports betting to Michigan residents without a licence
• The regulator warned that Michigan's online self-exclusion database binds only licensed operators, so self-excluded players can still sign up and deposit offshore
• The Online Casino and Regal Casino and Sportsbook, also known as Wager Street, appear on both this list and the 45-operator list the MGCB published in April 2026
• Recipients include Guangzhou Snail Interactive Technology Co., Ltd., the only one named by a full company name; the MGCB does not say which product drew its letter
• The action comes as Michigan's licensed iGaming market grows, with August iGaming adjusted gross receipts of $290.8 million, up 17.6% year on year, and follows Michigan's order that Kalshi geofence the state

Michigan Names 33 Unlicensed Operators and Puts Self-Exclusion at the Centre of Its Case

The MGCB announced the letters in a press release dated Thursday 8 October, saying its investigations had determined that each operator was offering casino-style games, sweepstakes-style games or sports betting to Michigan residents without a state licence. The recipients are Azartzona Casino, Basepoker, BingoMania, BitofGold, Cryptoplay, Del Oro Casino, Detective Slots, Donbet, Exclusive Casino, Genie Jackpot, Guangzhou Snail Interactive Technology Co., Ltd., Immersion Casino Online, iWild Casino, JacksPay, Jurassic Slots, L0tt0, Lucky Charm Sweep, Lucky Rebel, Magicianbet, mBit Casino, Odds Maker, Raging Bull Slots, Regal Casino and Sportsbook (also known as Wager Street), Ronin Slots, Runewager, Slot Paradise, Sloto Tribe, Sloto'Cash Online Casino, Spin Dinero, SpinsTopia, Stardust, SunnySpins Casino and The Online Casino.

The release does not say which operator offered which product, when the letters were sent or whether any recipient has responded. Guangzhou Snail Interactive Technology is the only recipient named by a registered company name rather than a brand, and the MGCB gives no detail of the game or site involved.

The new element is the framing. Licensed operators must honour the Internet Gaming and Sports Betting Responsible Gaming Database, which lets a person bar themselves from all of Michigan's regulated online casino and sports betting sites for one year or five years, according to the MGCB's application form. Offshore operators have no such obligation, so a self-excluded person can still open an account, deposit and bet on an unlicensed site, often without realising it sits outside Michigan law, the regulator said. MGCB Executive Director Henry Williams said offshore sites "will take a deposit from someone who has asked for help", that the board has no way to help that person recover it, and that the 33 letters put operators on notice that the state's residents "are not an untapped market".

Operators that ignore the letters may face further enforcement with the Michigan Department of Attorney General, according to the release. Running an unlicensed gambling operation is a felony carrying up to 10 years in prison, a $100,000 fine, or both, the MGCB has said previously.

Michigan's Lists Keep Growing, and Two Names Are Back

The MGCB announced letters to three online casinos in November 2025 and to 12 offshore operators in December 2025, then said on 7 April 2026 that it had sent cease-and-desist orders to 45 operators over the previous four months. Those four announcements alone account for 93 letters, by iGaming Times' count. Two names recur: The Online Casino and Regal Casino and Sportsbook were numbers 23 and 40 on the April list. The new release does not mention repeat recipients.

Sweepstakes play has been a target for longer. In January 2024 the regulator disclosed letters sent in late 2023 to PredictionStrike, Sweepstakes Limited (Stake.us) and VGW LuckyLand, and said all three had taken steps to stop Michigan residents playing. Other states have since gone further, with Florida suing Stake, VGW and four payment processors and pressing Google, Meta and TikTok to stop sweepstakes casino ads.

The licensed market the MGCB is protecting is growing. In August, Michigan's 15 authorised operators reported iGaming adjusted gross receipts of $290.8 million, up 17.6% year on year, while online sports betting receipts fell 29.3% to $24.2 million, according to the board's monthly release.

On scale, the MGCB cited the American Gaming Association (AGA). The AGA's August 2025 analysis estimates that Americans wager $673.6 billion a year with illegal and unregulated operators, up 22% since 2022, and that the share of iGaming players using only legal sites fell from 52% in 2022 to 24%, with 49% using both. The Innovation Group carried out the study for the AGA, largely through a survey of 2,454 US adults.

The Self-Exclusion Argument Is the Strongest One the Regulator Has

The MGCB's earlier releases argued fairness, lost tax and withheld winnings. This one argues that a person who has asked for help can be taken straight back in by an offshore site, which is the harm a licensed market is built to prevent and an unlicensed one cannot. It also shows why a letter is a blunt tool here: a self-excluded player is exactly the customer the licensed market has turned away, so an offshore site faces no licensed competition for that person's deposits. If the AGA's finding that about half of online casino players use both legal and illegal sites holds even roughly in Michigan, the database protects fewer people than its enrolment suggests. Licensed operators, who pay for that compliance, have every reason to want the gap closed.

Repeat Names Show What a Letter Can and Cannot Do

A letter costs the recipient nothing until it is enforced. Two of April's names reappearing six months later is a small sample, but it is the one measurable outcome on the page. Michigan cannot license, tax or inspect a site run from outside the United States; the pressure points are payments, advertising and platforms, which is where Florida has gone and where Dutch MPs have voted to make platforms liable for illegal gambling ads. Whether the Attorney General follows these 33 letters with action against anyone will decide whether the list is a deterrent or a register.

The AGA Numbers Make the Point but Need Care

The figures come from an industry body whose members compete with the offshore sites, and they are survey estimates, not transaction data. The AGA itself says illegal operators hold a smaller share of the US iGaming market than three years ago, as the legal market has grown. That nuance supports the channelisation case Michigan is making: a strong licensed market shrinks the offshore share without eliminating it.

Michigan has found the most persuasive reason yet to keep sending letters. The test is whether the next list is shorter, and whether any name on it is there for a third time.