Affiliates targeted in move to halt unlicensed online gambling
News on 21 May 2014
News on 21 May 2014
The New Jersey regulator and a number of online gambling operators licensed in the state have for some time flagged the activities of unlicensed and illegal operators as one of the reasons for the slow take-up of internet gambling in the Garden State, and now the problem is being addressed.
In addition to sending cease-and-desist warnings to the operators themselves (see previous reports), the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has fired a shot across the bows of at least six affiliate marketing website owners, demanding that they remove online gambling advertising and promo links to illegal internet gambling sites accessing New Jersey players, or face civil or criminal consequences.
The intimidating letter is signed by George N. Rover, the Attorney General of New Jersey, and was reportedly sent to poker information sites like RaketheRake, PokerSource, CardsChat, Pokersites and RakeBrain.
Commenting on the warning, DGE spokeswomen Kerry Langan said the sites promote illegal gambling websites through advertising and links alongside Internet gaming sites that are authorised in New Jersey.
“We believe this may either taint legitimate sites by associating them with the illegal ones, and conversely may lend the appearance that these illegal sites are affiliated with authorized sites,” Langan said.
“Among the sites that the Division asked to examine their practices and to cease and desist from promoting illegal gaming sites are: CardsChat.com, PokerSource.com, RakeBrain.com, Pokersites.com, and RaketheRake.com
“The Division feels very strongly about protecting NJ citizens from illegal Internet gaming websites. New Jersey has a strong regulatory framework in place to enable Internet gaming to be a safe reliable experience for those who wish to participate.
“Our licensing requirements ensure that only carefully vetted companies can provide Internet gaming services. These illegal sites do not offer the same protections to players and we do not want these unregulated sites being promoted with our legal, regulated sites.
“We have strict regulations in place to help prevent underage gambling as well as monitoring tools to detect possible fraud and money laundering.The Division hopes that by taking a strong stance against illegal websites and their promoters, the benefits of regulated online gaming will help drive illegal operators out of the market place and provide patrons far better protections.
“At the same time, we believe it is unfair to those companies that subjected themselves to our strict licensing and regulatory requirements to have to compete with these illegal sites and the entities which are being paid to promote them.”
