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President Donald Trump’s executive order pausing almost all enforcement of a decades-old federal anti-bribery law will not give U.S. gaming companies any leeway when it comes to avoiding bribing foreign officials.
If anything, gaming attorneys have been advising their clients to wait and see what happens, while not abandoning ongoing compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
Trump last month ordered a halt to all investigations and enforcement actions under the FCPA, saying the federal law “actively harms American economic competitiveness, and, therefore, national security.”
“It is therefore the policy of my administration to preserve the presidential authority to conduct foreign affairs and advance American economic and national security by eliminating excessive barriers to American commerce abroad,” Trump wrote in his executive order dated February 10.
Enacted by Congress in 1977, the FCPA prohibits U.S. citizens and any U.S. entities from engaging in bribery of foreign government officials to benefit their business interests. Companies also have to maintain clear records to ensure they monitor the activities of any foreign consultants or other third-parties who may engage in bribery.
Still, the temporary pause or even eventual elimination of the FCPA should not impact how U.S. gaming companies do business overseas.
Even if the federal regulators scrap enforcement of the federal law, legal experts note that operators and suppliers remain accountable to state gaming regulators who have zero tolerance for corrupt international business practices.
Companies might also find themselves facing civil charges related to bribery. The FCPA is jointly enforced by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which handles criminal laws, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversees civil enforcement of bribery-related matters.
Even if the FCPA is eliminated or watered down, attorneys are advising their clients not to alter their approach to anti-bribery compliance.
The statute of limitations for a criminal violation of the FCPA is five years, outlasting the Trump administration.
“In my opinion, companies should continue with their FCPA compliance at current levels until there is clear, formal guidance from the government, including statutory amendments,” said A.G. Burnett, a partner with McDonald Carano law firm in Reno and former chair of the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB).
“Companies should obviously keep a close eye on how this develops but in the meantime continue as is,” Burnett told Vixio GamblingCompliance.
Frank DiGiacomo, a partner with Duane Morris in Philadelphia, warned that when it comes to state gaming regulators and any allegations of foreign bribery, the “underlying conduct … would be subject to their regulatory purview.”
“I would say, in many states, the state gaming regulator [and] casino regulations are more robust than any federal law out there,” DiGiacomo told attendees on Monday (March 3) at the Gaming Law, Compliance, and Integrity Bootcamp at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, New Jersey.
In one prominent FCPA case involving the gaming industry, Las Vegas Sands Corp. agreed in 2017 to pay a $6.96m penalty to resolve a U.S. DOJ investigation of the company’s compliance with the law in some of its dealings in China and Macau involving a third-party consultant.
The non-prosecution settlement in January 2017 stemmed from the same case that led the SEC to fine Sands $9m in April 2016. Sands admitted to paying an estimated $5.8m to a business consultant in Asia without a legitimate business purpose.
The DOJ and SEC settlements ended an investigation that began in 2011.
Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of FanDuel, also paid a $4m penalty under the FCPA in 2023 related to the past activities of PokerStars in Russia, before Flutter acquired it.
In 2024, the DOJ and SEC filed 26 FCPA-related enforcement actions, and at least 31 companies were under investigation by year-end, according to the Trump administration.
Trump’s executive order directs U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to pause FCPA actions until she revises the enforcement guidance, with past and existing FCPA actions being reviewed. Bondi must approve any future FCPA actions.
Bondi has already shifted the focus of FCPA investigations away from those that do not involve criminal operations of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, which attorneys describe as a departure from traditional FCPA enforcement priorities.
In a blog post, attorneys with Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. noted President Trump’s criticism of the FCPA was similar to complaint he made in 2012 before he was elected to office. At the time, Trump called the FCPA a “horrible law” that “should be changed”.
Whether or not the FCPA needs to be amended, most gaming companies are licensed in more than one jurisdiction and many of those other state and foreign laws still prohibit bribery. Despite the temporary pause, the FCPA remains a federal law and Congress has not repealed it.
