DoJ appeals New Hampshire Lottery Wire Act case ruling
Attorney General William Barr has filed a ruling with the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston after a judge deemed the Wire Act only applied to sports betting
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has said it will appeal the New Hampshire Lottery Commission (NHLC) case’s ruling which determined the Wire Act only applied to sports betting.
In June, the NHLC filed a case against the DOJ’s 2018 Wire Act Opinion that expanded the Wire Act’s restrictions to include other forms of interstate online gambling like lottery and poker.
In response to the move, iDEA Growth trade body founder and keen supporter of the NHLC’s case, Jeff Ifrah, said: “The Department’s action, while hardly unexpected, is certainly unwarranted.
“We hope that, rather than engaging in a protracted, expensive and ultimately unsuccessful legal fight, the Department will take this opportunity to negotiate a settlement which will focus the Wire Act and DOJ’s enforcement resources on the right targets – the unlicensed illegal offshore internet gambling operators who do not create jobs or tax revenue in the US and do not appropriately protect consumers,” Ifrah said.
888 head of commercial development Yaniv Sherman previously told EGR NA: “We’ve already started to put a contingency plan into place.
“The overall direction is a good one in putting things back into place with the 2011 opinion because the latest one just didn’t make sense, if anything it was fuelled by some political agenda which aimed to confuse everyone.”
Industry lawyer Stephen Schrier told EGR NA he thought the Judge’s opinion would withstand scrutiny on appeal.
“The opinion by Judge Barbadoro is well reasoned and thorough. He carefully deconstructs the DOJ’s faulty opinion and supports a logical and proper interpretation of the Wire Act,” Schrier said.
The DOJ filed notice of its appeal on Friday with the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, on behalf of US Attorney General William Barr. The Department has said it would not enforce the latest interpretation of the Wire Act until next year.