Bovada Restricts New Michigan, Colorado Customers From Playing

Bovada has finally responded to a Cease & Desist letter from the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) and opted to prevent new customers located in the state of Michigan from betting with the website.  Gambling911.com has been advised that those who already have accounts in Michigan can still place bets and that the site is accessible, however, any withdrawals must be via cryptocurrency.  An attempt to sign up with Bovada using a Detroit ZIP code was met with a notice stating that the site does not allow those from Detroit to open an account.  Contrary to some earlier reports, the site is not blocked in Michigan. 

Bovada also added Colorado as a restricted state for new customers, joining New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware and Maryland.  Colorado had sent a Cease & Desist letter to Bovada that was previously unreported.

With Connecticut sending its own cease and desist letter, Bovada may soon decide to prevent new customers from opening a betting account from that state as well, according to  Robert Linnehan of XL Media.

From SportsBettingDime:

The gaming control board claims Harp Media B.V. is in violation of several Michigan gaming laws that include the following:

• Lawful Internet Gaming Act: States internet gaming may only be offered by a licensed internet gaming operator.
• Michigan Gaming Control and Revenue Act: Prohibits a party from conducting a gambling operations without a licensed issued by the MGCB. Parties operating unlicensed gambling operations in the state may face imprisonment for up to 10 years or a fine up to $100,000 or both.
• Michigan Penal Code: Broadly prohibits any form of gambling, which generally involves the elements of consideration, prize, and chance. Such as, accepting money, or anything of value, with the understanding that money, or anything of value, will be paid to any person based on the outcome of an uncertain event is prohibited.

Bovada advised that those betting from the newly restricted states can only withdraw funds using cryptocurrency.