Add Massachusetts to the list of states that have told Bovada to shut it down.
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO) announced it has issued a cease-and-desist letter to Bovada’s owner Harp Media B.V., for operating a sports betting and gambling website without a license in the state.
The AGO letter states that Bovada has been offering online casino games and sports wagering without any license issued by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which partly funds the AGO’s Gaming Enforcement Division, thereby violating state gaming and sports betting laws.
Massachusetts also asserts that Bovada is violating state consumer protection laws by marketing itself to Massachusetts residents as a legitimate “USA-based” gambling operator since 2011, despite the fact that Harp is based on the Caribbean island of Curaçao.
The letter demands that Bovada immediately stop all of its services to users in Massachusetts and refund all such users in the form of U.S. currency. The AGO adds that unlicensed operators like Bovada pose “a substantial danger” to consumers because they do not go through the same rigorous regulatory requirements as licensed operators and often do not offer player protection safeguards.
Bovada’s naughty list grows ever longer
As of the time of writing, Bovada restricts access to users in 13 states plus Washington, D.C.
Many of these state shutdowns have come after similar enforcement action. A few weeks ago, Bovada added Pennsylvania and Kansas to its no-go list and each state’s gaming regulator told SBC Americas that they had sent a cease-and-desist letter to the offshore operator. Others to have recently taken action to kick Bovada out of their market include Louisiana, Michigan and Connecticut.
In a typical pattern, regulators receive no response from Harp Media but Bovada quietly adds states one by one to its list of restricted jurisdictions.
North of the border, meanwhile, Antigua and Barbuda-based operator Bodog recently took itself off the market in the Atlantic Canada province of Nova Scotia.
Massachusetts adding more regulated online gaming options
While Massachusetts is clamping down on unregulated operators, it continues to expand its regulated online gambling market.
The state’s online sports betting pool was deepened this summer by the addition of Bally Bet, while Gov. Maura Healey signed into law a 2025 budget that legalized both online lottery sales and einstant games starting next year.
The Massachusetts State Lottery Commission will conduct a process to find an operator for the online system.
