In early January, Derek Longmeier was pretty peeved.
“I couldn’t scroll through Facebook and not find an illegal ad that either did not include the helpline number or was advertising for risk-free bets that weren’t,” he says.
Longmeier is the executive director of the Problem Gambling Network of Ohio. He and his members responded by sending screengrabs and links to the Ohio Casino Control Commission or OCCC. Within days, the OCCC chastised several mobile app purveyors, including BetMGM, Barstool, DraftKings and Caesars. Some $1 million in fines were assessed and the apps suffered some totally deserved, self-inflicted, unbecoming media coverage.
He hasn’t seen an illegal ad since.
