Illegal online gambling reaches $9.5 BN in New York, New Jersey, and Minnesota, according to CFG report

A staggering $9.5 billion of illegal gambling activity has been carried out across three states – New York, New Jersey, and Minnesota – reveals a new report on the U.S. online gambling marketplace by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling (CFG) and Yield Sec (YS).

The figure represents nearly a quarter of the total $40.92 billion in illegal gross gaming revenue (GGR) across America's total online gambling marketplace. New Jersey was selected for its longest history of iGaming, New York for being the largest sports betting state, and Minnesota which does not have legal iGaming. 

The Campaign for Fairer Gambling, which describes itself as an independent gambling reform group "with deep knowledge of the gambling sector's business and lobbying practices in both the UK and the US," commissioned YS, an online marketplace intelligence platform, to monitor, analyze and assess the split of total online gambling share between legal and illegal operators. 

In their first report, YS data revealed significant dominance by illegal operators across the American online gaming experience. The report follows USA Report One, which investigated the total U.S. marketplace and a special analysis of online gambling on Super Bowl LVIII. 

"The dominance of illegal online gambling operators remains unchallenged despite the expansion of legal gambling," said CFG founder Derek Webb. “Sector-friendly legislation, regulation, and tax rates have not made much of a dent. Despite wildly different legal regimes, these three states continue to accommodate over 800 illegal operators who operate with zero regard for state law." 

"This is one reason why we need federal involvement in the oversight of online gambling. We are eager to equip policymakers with real, reliable data so that we can have more informed, balanced debate, and ultimately smarter gambling policy," Webb added.

"This data and analysis expose a stark reality: illegal gambling operators are brazenly stealing money from state and federal coffers, and legitimate American industry," said Ismail Vali, founder and CEO of Yield Sec. "It's time for the federal government to end this theft in broad daylight."

The report’s key findings include: 

• Illegal gambling operators usurp $9.5 billion from New York, New Jersey and Minnesota
• New York (online sports betting only): Of the total online marketplace GGR, 49% ($3.4 billion) goes to illegal online casino gaming, with a further 27% ($1.9 billion) to illegal online sports betting
• New Jersey (legal for online sports betting and online casino): Of the total online marketplace GGR, 22% ($996 million) goes to illegal online sports betting and 16% ($719 million) to illegal online casino gaming
• Minnesota (not legal for online sports betting or online casino): Of the total online marketplace GGR, 38% ($929 million) goes to illegal online sports betting and 62% ($1.5 billion) to illegal online casino gaming.