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DoJ files notice of appeal against New Hampshire Wire Act rulingNews Story
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has filed a notice of appeal following the decision in June by the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire to find in favor of the New Hampshire Lottery Commission (NHLC) in the long-awaited ruling on last year's revised opinion of the Wire Act by the DoJ. The notice of appeal reads: Please take notice that all Defendants (the United States of America; the United States Department of Justice; and William Barr, in his official capacity
Aug 22, 2019, 8:48 am - Lottery News

Pennsylvania Lottery struggles to attract bets on virtual sports gamesNews Story
The Pennsylvania Lottery has more than 1,850 outlets with screens displaying virtual animated football and auto races. The odds of finding someone watching a bet play out on the simulated sports action is pretty low. With a few exceptions, lottery licensees in the region report few customers are spending their time or money on the Xpress Sports games lottery officials introduced in August. Xpress Football offers the chance to bet from $1 to $20 each on up to 16 possible outcomes such as a
Jun 27, 2019, 11:00 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

NJ joins DOJ lawsuit over Wire Act interpretationNews Story
New Jersey is joining New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and several lottery companies in a suit seeking to invalidate the U.S. Department of Justice's legal ruling last year which critics said could hurt the state's multibillion-dollar online gaming and sports betting industries, Attorney Gurbir Grewal announced Monday. Grewal, in the amicus brief filed March 8 in the United States District Court for New Hampshire, is seeking nationwide relief of the DOJ's reinterpretation of the federal Wire Act
Mar 12, 2019, 9:18 am - 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

WV Lottery not backing online gaming law this sessionNews Story
West Virginia Lottery officials will back two bills intended to increase revenue, but do not plan to pursue legalization of online gaming this session, Lottery Director John Myers told the House Finance Committee Friday. We certainly see the opportunity in iGaming, he said. We fully intend to come back with that at some point. Online gaming, or iGaming, can run the gamut from being able to able to buy tickets for Lottery drawings or scratch-off games online, to sports betting apps, to on
Jan 16, 2019, 1:02 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