Some good news albeit more of a stall in proceedings, but the Department of Justice last Wednesday issued a memorandum from the Deputy Attorney General which ensures there will be no action concerning the wire act until 2020.
You may well be asking as a result, what on earth is this concerning and how does it affect me? Or indeed what if anything how it affects the states in the United States that have regulated and licensed forms of online gambling?
This has all come about after the DOJ in a ruling in January 2019, stated that the Wire Act applies to all forms of gambling. This ruling by the DOJ was a revision of it’s 2011 ruling, which subsequently gave the green light to several states in the US, to start regulating online gambling.
However, the January ruling from the DOJ was a major shot in the arm for opponents of online gambling, having the potential to snuff out all and any legalized and regulated online gambling in the entire country. As a result the New Hampshire Lottery Commission ( NHLC ) in March launched a lawsuit which challenged the DOJ’s January ruling.
Well back on the 4th June Paul Barbadoro, United States District Judge in a case concerning New Hampshire Lottery Commission (NHLC) stated: “I hereby declare that [the Wire Act] applies only to transmissions related to bets or wagers on a sporting event or contest. The 2018 OLC Opinion is set aside.”
This assertion from Barbadoro means that operators licensed in regulated states can sleep easier at night, until at least the turn of the year anyhow. As Barabadoro’s ruling basically overturns the opinion that the DOJ came to in January this year.
Meaning that U.S Attorneys, Assistant Attorneys and the FBI can not proceed with action against operators based on the DOJ’s opinion arrived at in January this year, that the wire act covers all aspects of gambling.
