Ace23 Kept Running After Michigan’s 14-Day Gambling Order

The Michigan Gaming Control Board gave Ace23 and Ace Per Head 14 days to quit the state on October 4, 2024. The Costa Rica pair ran Ace23.ag as a sportsbook and casino desk for agents, not as a consumer brand. Those agents take the bets and pay the winners, the board said, while Ace23 bills $10 per active player per week.

The letters named a shop that rents webpage “skins.” The cash sat with bookies, which is why a Detroit deadline did not, by itself, pull the books down.

Custom Skins for Independent Bookies

Ace Per Head manages Ace23, according to the board’s cease-and-desist letters to Ace23 and Ace Per Head. Ace23 presents itself as part of the Ace Gaming Network and says it holds licenses in Canada and Costa Rica. It has no Michigan license.

Investigators said account holders, called agents, can stand up bookmaking shops on different designs and webpages. On those pages the agents take wagers and make payouts. Ace23 handles organizing, setup, and office work for that shop. Casino-style games sit on the same site, but Ace23 does not take those wagers or send those payouts either.

That split is the product. A local bookie gets a branded site, lines, and admin. Players deal with the agent. The Costa Rica desk invoices a weekly head charge and stays one step away from the money.

The Michigan Gaming Control Board is committed to safeguarding the integrity of legal gaming in the state and protecting consumers from illicit offshore operations like Ace23. Our regulatory efforts are focused on promoting responsible gaming practices and upholding the laws that govern the industry. To that end, we ask all Michigan residents to stay informed and stay safe by reporting any suspected illegal gambling activities to the agency because we take every tip very seriously.

Henry Williams, Executive Director, Michigan Gaming Control Board

Williams, the board’s executive director, framed the letters as consumer protection. The formal ask was narrower: halt Michigan gambling activity and refrain from further violations within 14 days from receipt of the letter.

How the $10 Weekly Charge Works

Pay-per-head shops sell infrastructure, not a public sportsbook brand. Michigan’s file on Ace23 is a clean specimen of that B2B layer.

HOW ACE23 BOOKED THE AGENTS

• The skin: An agent gets a custom webpage and design, then takes bets and pays winners on that page.
• The fee: Ace23 charged $10 per active player per week for organizing, setup, and administration.
• The casino tab: Games are listed on the site, but wagers and payouts stay between the agent and the player.
• The rent rail: Agents paid those head charges in cryptocurrencies or retailer gift cards.

The gift-card path is blunt. An agent scratches the hidden code on the back of a card and types it into an account page, which releases the dollar amount to Ace23. That is office rent paid in store plastic, not a player deposit at a licensed cashier.

A letter to Costa Rica can tell the platform to stop serving Michigan. It does not automatically find every agent who already has a skin, a player list, and a second URL. In the pay-per-head trade, a geo-block is often treated as a domain swap, not a shutdown. Ace Per Head was still advertising pay-per-head bookie software in June 2026.

Michigan Kept Sending Letters After the Deadline

The Ace23 file was one warning in a long paper campaign. The board kept naming unlicensed sites, giving them a short window, and pointing to the same statutes.

SELECTED MGCB OFFSHORE ORDERS

1. October 4, 2024: Issues cease-and-desist letters to Ace23 and Ace Per Head in Costa Rica, with 14 days from receipt to halt Michigan activity.
2. January 23, 2025: Orders MyBookie.ag, run by Duranbah Limited N.V. in Curaçao, to stop taking Michigan play.
3. March 24, 2025: Sends letters to 10 unlicensed casino brands owned by Apex Dynamics Ltd. in Belize.
4. December 3, 2025: Issues 12 letters to offshore casino and sports betting sites, including 31 Bets Casino, BetPhoenix, and xWin90.
5. April 7, 2026: Announces cease-and-desist orders to 45 offshore operators over four months.

On the April 2026 sweep, Williams said Michigan will not tolerate illegal operators targeting residents or undercutting shops that spent money to follow state law. The board said it would keep identifying unlicensed sites. Failure to comply, it has warned across these files, can bring further action with the Michigan Department of Attorney General.

The Ace23 letters cited the Lawful Internet Gaming Act, the Michigan Penal Code, and the Michigan Gaming Control and Revenue Act. In the MyBookie order, the board described an unlicensed gambling business under that revenue act as a felony that can bring up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $100,000, or both. Those are the statute’s stakes. They are not a sentence against Ace23, which received a cease-and-desist letter, not a public conviction in the board’s release.

Fifteen Licensed Shops Already Cover the State

Michigan did not lack a legal place to bet when the Ace23 letters went out. The Lawful Internet Gaming Act, Act 152 of 2019, is the gate. Under that act, casino licensees and tribes may offer internet gaming if the board finds them eligible and suitable. MCL 432.306 limits operator licenses to a person that holds a casino license or an Indian tribe that lawfully conducts class III gaming in a Michigan casino.

The board’s 2025 annual report counted 15 internet gaming and sports betting operators at year end, 12 tribal and 3 commercial. Detroit’s three commercial casinos are MotorCity, MGM Grand Detroit, and Hollywood Casino at Greektown. Platform brands on the authorized list include FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, BetRivers, and Fanatics Sportsbook and Casino.

LICENSED MICHIGAN PLAY VERSUS ACE23

The legal shops pay tax, run identity checks, and sit on the board’s responsible-gaming tools. Ace23’s Michigan problem, as the board wrote it, was simpler: it was offering the machinery of a sportsbook and casino to agents with no license at all.

Scratch-Off Codes and Crypto Wallets

The payment detail in the Ace23 file is the part a player never sees. Agents were not wiring a licensed cashier. They were feeding crypto or gift-card codes into an account page so the Costa Rica desk could collect the $10 head charge.

That rail matters for enforcement. A bank can freeze a licensed operator’s account. A scratched gift card is a store receipt. Crypto sits on wallets the Michigan board does not charter. The same opacity that helps a per-head vendor collect rent also keeps the player’s cash with the agent, which is the person the October 2024 letters did not name.

Williams told residents to verify a site before they play and to use the licensed list on Michigan.gov/MGCB. The Ace23 release also pointed people to the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-GAMBLER and to the board’s Disassociated Persons List and internet gaming responsible-gaming database.

Where the FBI Inquiry Went After Costa Rica

By May 2026, Ace23 was no longer only a Michigan letter. People familiar with a federal inquiry said the site remained in operation and had become a focus of an FBI probe into an alleged gambling enterprise tied to Costa Rica websites that cater to agents and bookies. Those people said Ace23 is allegedly controlled by a man who lives in South Florida.

In April 2026, FBI personnel executed search warrants at businesses and residences tied to a family that operates barbershops in New York’s Capital Region and South Florida. Sarah Ruane, an FBI spokeswoman, said agents were conducting court-authorized activity at those locations in connection with an ongoing federal investigation. People familiar with the matter said electronics were taken from the businesses and homes, and that items were also taken from a vehicle in Saratoga County in a probe that sources linked to alleged money laundering and loan-sharking around offshore gambling. Those individuals have not been accused of wrongdoing in that investigation.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The Michigan paper: The board issued Ace23 and Ace Per Head cease-and-desist letters on October 4, 2024, with 14 days from receipt to halt Michigan activity.
• The federal step: Ruane confirmed court-authorized FBI activity in April 2026 at locations tied to the barbershop family.
• The site status: People familiar with the inquiry said in May 2026 that Ace23 remained in operation and was a focus of the probe.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• Michigan geo-block: The board has not published proof that Ace23 cut off Michigan IP addresses after the letters.
• Charges: No public charging document in this reporting names Ace23’s managers or the barbershop family.
• Money moved: No official figure has been released for wagers or head fees tied to Ace23.

A Costa Rica shopfront can absorb a state letter and keep selling skins. A federal warrant on U.S. phones and computers is a different tool. Even then, closing one controller does not always retire a per-head brand. Other groups have bought and kept running the same kind of shop.

Henry Williams Put the Burden on Public Tips

Michigan’s consumer path after Ace23 was a phone number and an inbox. The board asked residents to report suspected illegal gambling at 1-888-314-2682 or MIGamblingTip@michigan.gov. It told people to check the licensed operator list before they play.

THE BOARD’S PUBLIC KIT

• Tip line: 1-888-314-2682 for suspected illegal gambling.
• Tip email: MIGamblingTip@michigan.gov.
• Legal market: 15 authorized internet gaming and sports betting operators at the end of 2025.
• Help line: 1-800-GAMBLER, with text 800GAM, for problem gambling.

That kit matches a regulator that can license Detroit casinos and tribal platforms, mail letters to Costa Rica, and ask the public to spot the next skin. It does not match a switch that turns off every agent book in the state. The Ace23 letters documented the plumbing. The bets stayed with the bookies, and the later FBI work went looking for alleged control in Florida and New York.

Williams’s October 2024 request still sits on the page: report the shop if you see it. The April 2026 batch of 45 orders shows the board is still filling folders. Ace23’s own file shows why a 14-day letter can land and the skins can stay live.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of public enforcement actions. It is informational only and is not legal, gambling, or financial advice, and it is not a finding that any named person or company has been convicted of a crime. Readers who have questions about licensed betting in Michigan, a cease-and-desist letter, or a federal inquiry should consult a qualified attorney licensed in the relevant state before acting. Figures, operator lists, and case statuses reflect the Michigan Gaming Control Board releases, the Lawful Internet Gaming Act, and the other sources cited as of the dates on those documents, and they may change as investigations and markets move.