Intertops.com and Intercasino.com reached out of court settlements this week with criminal justice officials in the state of New Jersey that will bar them from accepting wagers from residents of the Garden State.
The settlements come nearly seven months after the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement filed a civil lawsuit against a host of Internet gaming operators and suppliers. Cryptologic Inc, the lone supplier named as a defendant, reached a similar agreement in April.
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"We pretty much got what we were looking for, which was to protect our citizens from being able to sign on for sports betting, at least from these two defendants."
-Kerry Hand
New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement
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As part this week's settlements, the two Caribbean online sport books agreed to stop taking bets from New Jersey. They are not, however, required to repay New Jersey gamblers' losses and account for their betting, as the division originally sought.
Although the DGE had requested an account of betting activity, Kerry Hand, a spokesperson for the office, said the main goal of the lawsuit was to prevent New Jersey residents from placing future betting action on the sites.
"We pretty much got what we were looking for, which was to protect our citizens from being able to sign on for sports betting, at least from these two defendants," she said.
Intertops.com of Antigua and Barbuda agreed "to implement and maintain in good faith" measures to stop anyone in New Jersey from placing bets.
The company, per the agreement, has posted a notice on its site explaining that wagers from New Jersey will be rejected. Hand also said the site denied a New Jersey resident's registration with the message, "Cash accounts based on an address in New Jersey are not allowed," on Tuesday.
New Jersey Attorney General John J. Farmer Jr. filed a civil lawsuit against eight online gaming companies for violating the state's law by accepting wagers for Garden State residents.
The lawsuit marked the second round of civil complaints filed in New Jersey against Internet gambling sites. Last June the DGE and Consumer Affairs filed civil actions against Alohacasino.com, Royalclubcasino.com and 7sultants.com.
At the heart of each case was the principle that operators of online gambling sites were breaking the law by providing illegal betting facilities to users in New Jersey, even if the sites aren't based within the state.
Hand said of the seven complaints that were filed in October, "several" of them had been settled one way or another.
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"Our priority through the attorney general's office is to enforce the law."
-Hand
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"Those that didn't settle were the ones where it was more difficult to contact, or they had folded since we filed," she said. "I don't think there is a lot outstanding or overhanging. The settlements are pretty much what we are looking for in these types of cases."
With the announcement of Intercasino.com and Intertops.com, Hand said the number of outstanding defendants is minimal, but the DGE will work to get it settled.
"All I can really say is that it is still in the process," she said. "We don't really have any more details more than that."
David Outhwaite, CryptoLogic's chief operating officer, said the settlement has no bearing on his firm because it designed or provided sports betting software. The problem arose when Intercasino.com linked to an independent sports-betting Web site.
CryptoLogic has since ordered six other software clients to remove links to sports-betting sites, Outhwaite said.
Intercasino.com, one of CryptoLogic's licensees, no longer links to sports betting and offers only casino-style games. The site claims that its games "will be operated and played in accordance with the rules of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission as applicable."
The DGE has taken no action against Intercasino.com for its casino games, Hand said.
At the end of the day, Hand said, neither the DGE nor any other law enforcement agency in New Jersey is out to kill the interactive gaming industry. Until the day comes, if ever, when the state regulates interactive gaming, she said, her office has a job to do.
"As things stand now, and the way the laws are written right now, we are basically doing our job," she said. "Our priority through the attorney general's office is to enforce the law. As the law stands, and the way it reads right now, it is illegal. What will happen down the line will depend on a lot of factors, but for right now we have to go with the way things are written."