Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) Criminal Investigations Section Manager John Lessnau recently represented the agency at the 2025 North American Gaming Regulators Association (NAGRA) Annual Training and Education Conference, held June 2-5 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Lessnau presented a featured session titled “Case Study: Tackling the Illegal/Offshore Gaming Market” and facilitated a discussion on how Michigan is setting the standard nationwide in combatting illegal and unregulated gaming operations. His presentation outlined Michigan’s strategic enforcement model and collaborative approach to removing illegal gambling from the state and deterring bad actors from targeting Michigan consumers.

“Michigan is at the forefront of the national conversation on illegal gambling, and we were proud to share how our efforts are making a real impact. We’re leveraging every tool available—from anonymous tip lines and interagency partnerships to direct enforcement and public awareness—to crack down on illegal gaming operations that threaten consumer protection and undermine legal businesses,” MGCB Criminal Investigations Section Manager John Lessnau said.

To date, the MGCB has issued nearly 100 cease-and-desist letters to unauthorized gambling operators—including high-profile offshore websites—and continues to pursue new cases with more enforcement actions expected in the months ahead. These efforts underscore the agency’s commitment to upholding integrity in Michigan’s legal, regulated gaming market.

The MGCB’s aggressive stance on illegal and offshore gambling has drawn national recognition and strengthened its partnerships with regulatory peers across the US.

As part of the NAGRA conference, MGCB Executive Director Henry Williams was honored with the 2025 Excellence in Gaming – Individual Award, recognizing his leadership in expanding responsible gaming outreach and fortifying criminal enforcement efforts. The award reflects the continued success of the MGCB under Williams’ direction and the agency’s role as a model for effective, transparent regulation.

GoldenRace, leading B2B provider of Virtual Sports and betting solutions, has become the first and only Virtual Sports provider officially authorised to operate in Colombia’s Retail betting market under the new ACDV regulation.

The certification is based on ACDV (Virtual Racing and Sports Betting) standards, published by Coljuegos, Colombia’s national gambling authority, at the end of last year (2024) as part of a new regulatory framework for Virtual Sports in the Retail sector, outlined in Resolution No. 20241200028984.

With this updated certification now in force, GoldenRace proudly leads the way, allowing betting shops across Colombia to legally continue offering its award-winning Virtual Sports portfolio – including bestsellers like Virtual Football, Horse Racing, and Greyhound Racing – fully compliant with the latest national requirements.

“This process involved extensive testing at a prestigious, internationally accredited laboratory,” explained  Julio César Duque, LatAm Director at GoldenRace. “For us, it’s a clear confirmation of the strength of our portfolio and how well our solutions perform in Colombia.”

With the ACDV certification now active, the company is expanding its market-leading Virtual Sports content to Retail, giving local operators more.

“After a successful GAT Colombia 2025 and with the Peru Gaming Show on the horizon, we’re thrilled to keep growing in LatAm,” added Martin Wachter, CEO & Founder of Softquo, the Holding behind GoldenRace. “Colombia holds a special place for us: it’s home to one of our offices and our reforestation initiatives. We are deeply proud that its Retail operators can now enjoy the best of GoldenRace through this new certification.”

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has issued a $54,000 monetary penalty alleging Well Played Media, Unipessoal LDA promoted a deceptive bonus on its Casino Days website. The bonus offer is alleged to have encouraged high-risk behavior and failed to properly disclose key terms.

The AGCO launched an investigation triggered by a player who complained that more than $8500 in winnings had been confiscated by Casino Days. The investigation reviewed a so-called “welcome bonus” that promised new players up to $2000.

However, to qualify for the full bonus amount, players had to:

Deposit $2000 of their own money;

Wager $70,000 (35 times the deposit);

Keep each wager at or under $5; and

Complete all wagering requirements within 7 days.

Investigators also found that certain terms of the bonus offer were difficult to find, buried behind multiple links on the site.

AGCO’s analysis showed that the average player would first lose $3640 trying to earn the $2000 bonus.

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According to Ontario’s igaming rules, registered operators must not offer bonus promotions that encourage harmful gambling behavior and fail to disclose key conditions appropriately. Further, operators are not permitted to entice players with bonuses that cannot reasonably be attained without significant gambling losses.

These rules are in place to protect players and support a safe, regulated market—one that stands in contrast to the risks of unregulated gambling sites.

An igaming operator served with an Order of Monetary Penalty by the AGCO Registrar has the right to appeal the Registrar’s decision to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT), an adjudicative tribunal that is part of Tribunals Ontario and independent of the AGCO.

“Player protection is a non-negotiable priority for the AGCO. We expect operators to be truthful and transparent about their promotions, and we also require them to ensure that those promotions do not encourage reckless or harmful patterns of play. An offer that requires a player to sustain substantial losses for a perceived benefit is not a fair offer. This penalty sends a clear signal that we will not hesitate to take action against operators who fail to meet their obligations to protect Ontario players,” Dr. Karin Schnarr, Chief Executive Officer and Registrar of AGCO.