How to Get Rid of Offshore Gambling Operators: Pilfer Then Purify?
A group out of California intent on bringing legalized sports betting and online casino gambling to the Golden State have a novel idea. Steal the assets of existing offshore operators then make them pure as a litter of puppies.
Currently California does not regulate sports betting or gambling websites. But folks living here have played with offshore companies for well over two decades.
Kasey Thompson and Reeve Collins of Eagle 1 Acquisition Co. want to transfer the California operations of unregulated online sports betting sites to tribes.
How will they go about doing this you ask?
“We’re going to take those illegal assets that operate in California today, companies that are worth billions,” Thompson told PlayUSA over the weekend. “And they’re going to be owned, with no bad actors, completely cleared, all the technology, front and back, handed to these tribes with ownership papers, lock, stock and barrel. This will clean up the entire illegal black market that plagues the state.”
Might the power grab look something like this?
Those with the slightest familiarity with the offshore gambling market were quick to mock the concept.
"So… a magic wand?" asked Magic Mike.
"They will sell us cars that run on water next," joked iGaming Alliance.
Richard Schuetz summed things up pretty well.
"God loves drunks and fools."
And the PlayUSA article even had Gambling911 quoting.....Bible verses?
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."
Eagle 1 Acquisition Co. will likely need to accomplish this rare feat all on their own. That's because other players in the California gambling market appear to know nothing about their awe inspiring plans, nor did they even know of any filing to get sports betting back on the ballot next year. A previous voter referendum in California failed miserably.
Jacob Mejia, speaking for one of the tribal coalitions that opposed Prop 27, balked at the notion in an interview with PlayUSA:
“This proposal has not been well-received by tribal leaders. The vast majority of leaders learned about it only after it was filed with the attorney general. Any efforts to change the constitution and directly affect tribal sovereignty and gaming rights should be undertaken by tribes themselves.”
He added, “You have to look at the practicality of getting something like that passed,” Siva said. “Because if you put it out there and it fails, what does that mean for the future of tribal gaming as it relates to sports betting? I don’t think it’s something tribes would want to rush into because if it failed, the ramifications would be far worse for tribes.”
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
