June 28, 2021
When it comes to US online gambling and poker the US Department of Justice has finally raised the white flag. They will not appeal their most recent loss in the Federal Wire Act case, and that means we could be in for an explosion of legal Internet poker across the country.
This all began when the New Hampshire Lottery sued the Justice Department back in 2019 after they had changed their opinion on the Wire Act. That change would have made web based poker and casino games across state lines a Federal crime, and threatened lotteries as well.
The DOJ lost that case when a judge decided that the 1961 Wire Act did, in fact, only apply to bets placed on sporting events… and even then, only those bets which crossed state lines. The Justice Department appealed that decision and lost a second time earlier this year.
After losing the case in the appellant process, the time to appeal to the US Supreme Court was limited to 150 days. That timeline expired on June 21st, and the DOJ released a statement that day which read quite plainly: “The government is not planning to seek Supreme Court review of the First Circuit’s decision”.
That means this whole ugly mess is finally over (at least as far as the Wire Act is concerned). Moreover, it means that our industry won… and there is nothing standing in the way of the regulation of online poker across state lines.
This is not only a moral victory, but clears the way for states with smaller populations to join with others to ensure there are enough players to make the activity profitable and worth regulating. You can read more on this decision and the possibility of expanding US online gambling and poker when you visit Poker Fuse.
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