The Ohio Casino Control Commission has hit Bovada with a notice to cease-and-desist in Ohio by August 16. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

A recent memo sent by the American Gaming Association (AGA) urging regulators and state attorneys to investigate sweepstakes games is having the desired effect after news the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) hit Bovada with a cease-and-desist notice.

Sports Betting Dime on Wednesday cited an OCCC spokesperson providing it with the cease-and-desist letter sent to the Curacao-based Bovada by the regulator’s Executive Director Matthew T. Schuler on August 6.

the OCCC would pursue “all legal remedies and actions” against it

Schuler’s hard-hitting letter demanded the offshore iGaming operator stop all activity in the state by August 16 or the OCCC would pursue “all legal remedies and actions” against it. The OCCC accused Bovada of acting as an “unlicensed online casino, poker room, and sportsbook in the state,” plus allowing 18-year-olds to gamble, which is illegal in Ohio.

Schuler wrote that operating unlicensed operating sportsbooks or “a game of chance conducted for profit or scheme of chance, which Bovada’s casino engages in” is contrary to Ohio’s Criminal Code [and] strictly prohibited.”

Bovada has since pulled out of Ohio, making it 12 states from which it has had to exit. The others include Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Delaware, Michigan, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.