Michigan has used the first Illegal Gambling Awareness Week to urge residents to verify an online gambling site’s state licence before betting, promoting the new CheckBeforeYouPlay.org search tool as part of its “Play it safe. Bet legal.” campaign.
The international campaign ran from Nov. 9 through Nov. 13 and was organised by the International Association of Gaming Regulators. Michigan’s radio public-service announcements continue through November, with the Gaming Control Board directing consumers to confirm that an online casino or sportsbook is licensed in Michigan.
CheckBeforeYouPlay.org allows a user to enter a gambling website’s address and view available licence information for participating IAGR member jurisdictions. The service draws on regulatory records and other verified public sources, and was contributed by regulatory technology company Sharp Vision.
The tool has a limitation: a search may return no result for a site licensed outside its coverage, since it contains information only for covered IAGR member jurisdictions. IAGR’s advice is that consumers should check a site’s status before opening an account or making a deposit.
The MGCB said a Michigan-licensed online operator must verify that customers are at least 21, safeguard funds and personal information through secure payments, offer tools such as deposit and time limits, honour the state’s Responsible Gaming Database and provide a means to lodge a complaint with the regulator. Offshore websites, unlicensed sweepstakes casinos and prediction markets offering sports contracts without a Michigan licence are not subject to those requirements.
The public-awareness push accompanies a broader enforcement programme. The board said it has sent cease-and-desist letters to 259 illegal online gambling sites since it began targeting offshore operators in mid-2024; 166 complied, a rate of 64.1%. That was up from roughly 50% reported at the Global Gaming Expo in October 2025.
Michigan began acting against sweepstakes casinos in 2023 over concerns about consumer protections and the state’s 21-and-over limit. In April, the board issued cease-and-desist orders to 45 offshore operators accused of offering casino games or sports wagering to Michigan residents without valid state licences.
The MGCB and the Michigan Department of Attorney General are also pursuing unlicensed sports prediction markets. Robinhood, Coinbase and Polymarket each agreed this year to stop offering sports-wagering contracts to Michigan customers. Polymarket US agreed on Oct. 28 to close remaining open positions held by Michigan residents by Nov. 25, under an agreement approved by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
A March study by Blask ranked Michigan first among the fully regulated states it examined for channelisation, estimating that about 75% of consumer gambling activity in the state went through legal operators, compared with an average of about 62% across the states studied.
