New Jersey Sues Another Eight Internet Betting Sites. The State Of New Jersey Has Broadened Its Attack On Internet Gambling With Additional Lawsuits.
The State of New Jersey has broadened its attack on Internet gambling with additional lawsuits filed Tuesday against eight sites, including some of the biggest names in the business.
New Jersey Attorney General John J. Farmer Jr. announced that the divisions of Gaming Enforcement and Consumer Affairs “filed civil actions against several Internet based sports betting operations for acting in violation of New Jersey law by accepting wagers from individuals, including minors, located in New Jersey.”
The defendants, and their bases of operations, are: 2betdsi.com (Diamond Sportsbook International), Costa Rica; InterCasino.com, Dominica; Laythepoints.com (SBG Global Sportsbook), Costa Rica; Sportingbet.com, Alderney; Sportsbook.com, Costa Rica; Intertops.com, Antigua; BetonSports.com (NASA Sportsbook International), Costa Rica; and Betmill.com (Millennium Sports), Costa Rica. In July, Sportingbet.com bought the parent company of Sportsbook.com.
Robert Williams, marketing director of Diamond Sportsbook, told RGT Online tonight that his company has not seen the suit, and was surprised to read about it on a Web site. He said Diamond made no effort to target New Jersey for advertising, and had not run a billboard there.
“We advertise all over North America,” Williams said. “We’re in every publication, like everybody else -- the sports annuals, the betting guides, as well as customers that we would mail to.”
Asked if Diamond has customers in New Jersey, he said, “Every sports book has customers in New Jersey.”
The other defendants could not be reach tonight, or the people who could speak for the companies were not available.
In a press release, New Jersey officials said state investigators logged on to the Web sites and placed wagers on athletic events. They said there were few, if any, safeguards to prevent minors with access to credit cards from betting.
“The citizens of New Jersey need to be aware that these sports betting operations are not regulated and they are illegal,” John P. Suarez, the director of the Division of Gaming Enforcement, said in a statement. “Regardless of their occasional claims of ‘licensing’ and ‘legality’, they answer to no one and are therefore not held to the same scrutiny as our Atlantic City casinos.”
In June, New Jersey sued three online casinos that were not nearly as prominent as this week’s defendants – 7Sultans.com, Royalclubcasino.com and Alohacasino.com. A spokesman for the attorney general had no information today on what’s happened in those cases.
All three of te June defendants had advertised on billboards in or near Atlantic City. According to a story in The Press of Atlantic City, advertising also brought this week’s defendants to the attention of state officials.
The Press said one of the eight defendants had bought billboard space in the Atlantic City area, another advertised on radio and another sent a mailer to the post office box of the Attorney General himself.
Both the June cases and the new ones are civil, not criminal, and were filed in Mercer County Superior Court. The state is asking the court to prohibit the defendants from accepting bets from individuals in New Jersey, account for all money won from New Jersey residents in the last year, and require the defendants to “restore any money or property acquired by means of an alleged unlawful practice.”
New Jersey is doing more than filing suits, however. It’s going after the providers of the sites’ phone services and, reportedly, credit card companies. In the press release, Suarez said, “We have written cease and desist letters to the telephone companies that provide toll-free services to these illegal Internet sites. Under federal law, the telephone companies will be required to comply with our demand.”
Herb Greenberg, a columnist for RealMoney.com, said in a column posted this afternoon that a spokeswoman for Attorney General Farmer said that if this week’s suits are successful, the “next step” would be to go after credit card companies “for facilitating illegal activity.”
Greenberg also implied that CryptoLogic, a major software developer, was one of the defendants. But Ronald George, a spokesman for Farmer, said he thought that CryptoLogic was mentioned in the complaint against InterCasino, but that CryptoLogic was not sued. The only defendants, he said, are the eight sites listed in the release.
CryptoLogic owns the InterCasino trade name. The company has said that InterCasino is one of the largest online casinos, and that together with two affiliated sites, accounted for 75 percent of CryptoLogic’s revenue last year.
If CyrptoLogic did get into trouble with New Jersey authorities, the repercussions could be serious. CryptoLogic is trying to get its software approved by regulators in two strict jurisdictions – Australia and the Isle of Man. It also hopes to eventually be approved by Nevada, if and when that state licenses Internet gambling.
Regulators in such jurisdictions often refuse to license an applicant for a gaming license who has previously violated laws, even in other jurisdictions.
