Four radio stations in Colorado have been told by the state attorney general to pull their advertisements for Internet casinos and sports books.
Ken Lane, spokesman for the Colorado attorney general's office, said letters were sent in December to two radio station operators asking them to remove the I-gaming ads from their airwaves.
The commercials had been run on four Denver radio stations: KOA-850 AM, KTLK-760 AM and KHOW-630 AM, which are operated by Clear Channel Communications; and KKFN-950, which is operated by Jefferson Pilot Communications.
The state asked the stations to halt the Internet gaming ads because they give the impression that wagering via the Internet is legal. The attorney general was concerned about the ads from a consumer protection aspect, Lane said. The action was not motivated by the Interstate Wire Act of 1961.
"Our letter is concentrated on the potential deceptive business practices, which would be consumer fraud--state law," he said. "An argument can be made that they violate criminal state law, but this is strictly from a state law standpoint."
Lane said the attorney general's office received a positive response from Jefferson Pilot, which sent a letter indicating it would stop broadcasting the ads. Clear Channel, he said, also said it would quit airing them. IGN's phone calls to both Jefferson Pilot and Clear Channel were not immediately returned Friday.
"We understand that Clear Channel is reviewing it, but they're not accepting ads now anyway," he said. "They said that if they're illegal they won't run them, but we don't have anything in writing to that effect."
Lane said violations of Colorado's consumer protection acts can subject the violator to a fine for each ad, and that the amount of each fine could reach $2,000 or higher depending on the number of repeated offenses. But, he said, the state is not planning legal action.
"We were not threatening to take action, it was more of a, 'Hey, we think this may be a violation of law, you might want to reconsider running these ads,'" he said.