Current through Register Vol. 41, No. 3, September 23, 2024
A. For
the purposes of this section, "regulated entity" means a person or individual
who is a permit holder, license holder, or registrant.
B. A regulated entity shall cooperate in good
faith with an investigation conducted by the director, a sports governing body,
or a law-enforcement agency.
C. A
regulated entity shall provide or facilitate provision of account-level betting
information and data files relating to individuals placing wagers and any other
information necessary for investigations conducted by the director, a sports
governing body, or a law-enforcement agency.
D. During normal business hours, the director
may enter the premises of any facility of a regulated entity that is utilized
by the regulated entity to conduct or to assist in the conducting of sports
betting operations in the Commonwealth of Virginia for the purpose of
inspecting equipment, books, and records kept as required by the sports betting
law or this chapter to ensure that the regulated entity is in compliance with
the sports betting law and this chapter, or to make any other inspection as
necessary to enforce the sports betting law or this chapter. Failure to admit
the director or department staff after presentation of credentials shall be
grounds for the imposition of sanctions.
E. The director, department staff, and
representatives of any law-enforcement agency with jurisdiction may demand
access to inspect the business records of any regulated entity without the
requirement of obtaining a subpoena. Failure to provide access to the director
or department staff after presentation of credentials shall be grounds for the
imposition of sanctions.
F. A
regulated entity shall maintain all records relating to the conduct of its
sports betting operations in the Commonwealth of Virginia for a period of at
least five years.
G. The director
may investigate the possibility of any of the following activities:
1. Acceptance of a prohibited wager;
2. Transmission of material
nonpublic information for the purpose of wagering on a sporting event or to
influence a wager;
3. Abnormal
betting activity, unusual wagering activity, suspicious wagering activity, or
patterns that may indicate concerns about the integrity of a sporting
event;
4. Violations of the
Virginia Comprehensive Money Laundering Act (§
18.2-246.1 et seq. of the
Code of Virginia) or federal law prohibiting money laundering;
5. Criminal, civil, administrative, or
disciplinary proceedings or nonroutine government or law enforcement
investigations against the regulated entity;
6. Offering or extending credit to a player;
7. Directly targeting sports
betting advertisements or promotions to minors;
8. Offering or accepting a wager on sporting
events not approved by the director, including high school and youth league
sports events;
9. Offering or
accepting any wager prohibited by the sports betting law or this chapter;
10. Engaging in or facilitating
illegal or suspicious wagering activity;
11. Any complaints of illegal activity; or
12. Any other complaint, activity,
or conduct that may affect the integrity of sports betting in the Commonwealth
of Virginia.
H. Referral
of investigations.
1. Upon receipt of a
report of prohibited conduct, the director shall conduct a preliminary
investigation.
2. After the
preliminary investigation, if the director concludes that the allegations
contained in the report are credible, the director shall refer the allegations
to the appropriate law-enforcement agency.
3. If the alleged conduct occurred entirely
or primarily within the Commonwealth of Virginia, the referral shall be made to
the Office of the Attorney General.
4. If the alleged conduct occurred entirely
or primarily within a United States jurisdiction other than the Commonwealth of
Virginia, the referral shall be made to the Office of the Attorney General of
that jurisdiction and, if applicable, to any appropriate sports wagering
regulatory agency of that jurisdiction.
5. If the alleged conduct implicates
interstate commerce or any other violation of federal law, the referral shall
be made to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
6. In addition to any referral under this
subsection, if a report alleged prohibited conduct by an athlete, upon
determining that the allegations in the report are credible, the director shall
notify the appropriate sports governing body in writing, including in the
report the identity of the athlete and a general description of the
allegation.
I. A
regulated entity shall immediately report to the director any information
relating to:
1. Criminal or disciplinary
proceedings or nonroutine government or law enforcement investigations
commenced against the regulated entity in connection with its operations in any
jurisdiction;
2. Unusual or
suspicious wagering activity or wagering activities or patterns that may
indicate a concern with the integrity of a sporting event;
3. Any potential or actual breach of a sports
governing body's internal rules and codes of conduct pertaining to sports
betting, either:
a. Known to the regulated
entity, or
b. That reasonably
should have been known by the regulated entity;
4. Conduct that corrupts, is intended to
corrupt, or unduly influences the betting outcome of a sporting event for the
purposes of financial gain, including match fixing; or
5. Suspicious or illegal wagering activities,
including:
a. Cheating;
b. The use of funds derived from illegal
activity;
c. Suspicious activities
reported to the federal government pursuant to AML laws and regulations;
d. Prohibited wagers;
e. Wagers to conceal or launder funds derived
from illegal activity;
f. Use of
compensated agents or proxies to place wagers; and
g. Use of false identification in connection
with sports betting activity.
J. Reporting prohibited conduct.
1. Reports submitted via the hotline
established pursuant to §
58.1-4043
of the Code of Virginia or by any other method shall include a summary of the
facts supporting the allegation.
2. The identity of an individual making a
report and the contents of any report under this subsection:
a. Shall be confidential and not subject to
disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§
2.2-3700, et
seq. of the Code of Virginia); and
b. Shall not be disclosed for any reason
except:
(1) As authorized by the
individual;
(2) Upon referral of
the allegation to law enforcement; or
(3) As ordered by a court of competent
jurisdiction.
K. A regulated entity shall promptly report
information relating to conduct described in subdivisions I 2, I 3, and I 4 of
this section, to the relevant sports governing body and provide written notice
of that communication to the director. With respect to information provided by
a permit holder or supplier to a sports governing body, the sports governing
body may use such information only for integrity purposes and shall maintain
the confidentiality of such information unless disclosure is required by the
director, the sports betting law or other law, or a court order; if the permit
holder or supplier consents to disclosure; or if the director determines that
disclosure is necessary to allow the sports governing body to conduct and
resolve integrity-related investigations.
L. Upon request of the director, a regulated
entity promptly shall share with the director, in the form and format required
by the director at the account level information regarding a bettor; amount and
type of wager; the time the wager was placed; the location of the wager,
including the internet protocol address if applicable; the outcome of the
wager; and records of abnormal, unusual, or suspicious wagering
activity.
M. If a sports governing
body notifies the director that real-time information sharing for wagers placed
on its sporting events is necessary and desirable, a regulated entity shall
share the information described in subsection L of this section with the sports
governing body or its designee with respect to wagers on the sports governing
body sporting events. Such information may be provided in anonymized form and
may be used by a sports governing body solely for integrity purposes.
Statutory Authority: §§
58.1-4007,
58.1-4015.1,
and
58.1-4030 through
58.1-4047
of the Code of Virginia.
