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Court rejects Colorado man's claim to full $4.8M lottery jackpot he unwittingly split with scammersNews Story
Even though Amir Massihzadeh of Boulder, Colorado, was the only legitimate winner of a Colorado Lotto jackpot worth $4.8 million in 2005, he's not eligible to claim the full winnings, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled in a decision released Thursday. Massihzadeh, one of three ticket holders to win that jackpot, accepted his prize of $568,990, after taxes. But 10 years later, a criminal investigation exposed a scheme to rig lotteries across state lines, and officials determined the other two
Jun 21, 2019, 8:39 am - Lottery News

New Hampshire wins Wire Act lawsuitNews Story
Federal judge to DOJ: Wire Act only applies to sports betting New Hampshire has won its lawsuit against the US Department of Justice clarifying the scope of a 1961 federal gambling law. In a 60-page ruling issued Monday, US District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro rejected a 2018 opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel which expanded the Wire Act to broadly cover interstate online gambling. The previous interpretation from 2011 applies narrowly to sports betting. The judge handed the DOJ a
Jun 5, 2019, 6:39 pm - Lottery News

DOJ 'did not address' lotteries in Wire Act opinion, Deputy AG Rosenstein says in memoNews Story
A new memo from the US Department of Justice says that state lotteries are not at all impacted by the DOJ's reinterpretation of the Wire Act, a development that could mean the end of a federal court case brought earlier this year. (See New Hampshire sues DOJ over new Wire Act ruling, Lottery Post, Feb. 15, 2019.) The latest filing from the DOJ can be found below, including a memo signed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. There, he talks about the Office of Legal Counsel opinion off
Apr 10, 2019, 4:23 pm - Lottery News

Appeal almost inevitable in Wire Act reinterpretation case, expert saysNews Story
Big changes could be on the horizon for the gaming industry if the January reinterpretation of the federal Wire Act becomes a U.S. Justice Department mandate. But how likely is that to happen? Three law professors at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law tackled that question Thursday in a Moot Court presentation. Broadly, the reinterpretation could further restrict internet gambling. The Justice Department reversed some of the stances it made in 2011, when it interpreted the law to ba
Mar 11, 2019, 9:43 am - Lottery News

State lotteries line up against DOJ reversal on Wire ActNews Story
State lotteries continue to fight back against a January Department of Justice reversal of its interpretation of the Wire Act, threatening every form of online gambling in the country. (See DOJ reverses 2011 opinion of the Wire Act; legal online gaming in question, Lottery Post, Jan. 14, 2019.) Now the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania joined a New Hampshire lawsuit challenging the validity of the new Wire Act opinion. Before joining the lawsuit, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro co
Mar 11, 2019, 9:26 am - Lottery News

New Hampshire sues DOJ over new Wire Act rulingNews Story
New Hampshire on Friday became the first state to legally challenge last month's U.S. Department of Justice decision to revise the Federal Wire Act, filing a federal lawsuit that would halt enforcement of the opinion that could keep the state from selling lottery tickets online. The state is asking a U.S. District Court judge to vacate the 23-page opinion from the Department's Office of Legal Counsel, confirm that the Wire Act does not apply to state lotteries, and permanently keep the Justic
Feb 15, 2019, 5:25 pm - Lottery News

NH Lottery considers legal action after U.S. Justice Department questions online salesNews Story
The New Hampshire Lottery is contemplating a lawsuit after the U.S. Justice Department deemed online lottery sales illegal. The New Hampshire Lottery says it had the most successful launch of internet lottery sales in the country last year. Now, it says the move by the Justice Department could cost the state millions in school funding. We started selling on the internet scratch tickets, Powerball and Mega Millions, said Charlie McIntyre, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery. It
Feb 11, 2019, 8:36 pm - Lottery News

DOJ reverses 2011 opinion of the Wire Act; legal online gaming in questionNews Story
The U.S. Department of Justice's legal counsel office reversed a 2011 opinion that the Federal Wire Act applies only to sports betting, potentially throwing the small U.S. Internet gaming market into question. A 23-page opinion is dated Nov. 2, 2018 but became public Monday. Justice Department attorneys said they have, Based on the plain language of the issue, we reach a different result from the 2011 opinion of the 1961 Act. While the Wire Act is not a model of artful drafting, we conclu
Jan 14, 2019, 8:15 pm - Lottery News

California Lottery settles lawsuits with two former security staffNews Story
Employees were fired for questioning two jackpot payouts The California State Lottery has paid more than $500,000 to settle lawsuits filed by two former investigators who claimed they were fired for calling attention to jackpots they believed the lottery improperly awarded to recipients who could not prove they were winners. The two ousted lottery cops had flagged a $2 million jackpot in 2015 and a $750,000 prize in 2016 that they argued should not have been paid. It was a travesty the
Oct 9, 2018, 9:25 am - Lottery News

Bermuda officials staying quiet on sale of Florida lottery ticketsNews Story
The Bermuda Governor's office has stonewalled questions about whether it knew the sale of American lottery tickets in Bermuda was branded a potential breach of numerous laws in the United States by a top American gambling lawyer. Lottery Post reported last month that a legal opinion on the sale of the Florida Lottery Powerball and Mega Millions tickets at Paradise Games on Court Street was obtained by the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission as it probed the island's gambling industry in 2016.
Jul 31, 2018, 8:44 pm - Lottery News