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 Some $673.6 billion is wagered each year by Americans via illegal or unregulated gambling markets, the FBI warned.

A FBI agent at the Department of Justice in Washington on Feb. 12, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The FBI sounded the alarm on Dec. 17 regarding the risks associated with sports gambling as its popularity continues to gain steam across the United States.

The law enforcement bureau noted that 39 states and the District of Columbia have legalized some variant of sports betting, but it said that “illegal sportsbooks and illegal online gaming sites” are still widespread.

Some $673.6 billion is wagered each year by Americans via illegal or unregulated gambling markets, the FBI said, citing data from the American Gambling Association.

“Individuals engaged in illegal gambling risk funding organized crime activity and becoming vulnerable to violence, extortion, and fraud,” the FBI said in its bulletin released on Wednesday, adding that it is working to target “organized crime and illegal gambling operations.”

Some gambling sites operated in other countries have advertisements that target Americans and seek to obscure their respective countries of origin, the agency said. These offshore sites do not follow the same legal regulations as licensed sports books in the United States, it added.

Furthermore, the bureau said that the gambling profits gained by these organized crime groups can fund human trafficking, drug smuggling, and weapon smuggling activities.

“Unregulated sportsbooks and offshore gambling websites put U.S. consumers at risk of losing their money and earnings,” the FBI warned.

“Illegal betting can also lead bettors to other criminal activity, such as tax evasion and money laundering, due to the illicit nature of the financial gains. It is each bettor’s responsibility to play with a licensed and regulated sportsbook operator.”

It was more than a month ago that several high-profile figures, current and former NBA players—such as Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier—and coaches, were charged in illegal sports betting and money laundering schemes, prosecutors have said.

In late October, former NBA star and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was also charged in an alleged scheme to rig illegal poker games, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.

Rozier pleaded not guilty earlier this month to wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges stemming from accusations that he helped some friends win bets that revolved around his statistical performance in a game played in March 2023.

Billups also pleaded not guilty last month to charges related to a separate scheme to fix high-stakes, Mafia-backed poker games.

In Major League Baseball, Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were arrested in November, the DOJ said. The pair was accused of gambling on individual pitches that they threw in MLB games.

A poll from NBC News released on Dec. 17 found that 70 percent of Americans believe that the rise of sports betting is damaging the integrity of games or could cause games to be rigged.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said on Dec. 16 that the league is taking the cases seriously, stating that “if this game isn’t viewed as being honest and the competition being on the level and at the highest integrity, over time we will lose our fan base.”