Gambling Across State Lines

The Department of Justice has announced that it will wait 90 days to implement the new Wire Act, a recently-revised legal opinion that is set to widely affect online gambling in the USA.

Deputy Attorney General issued a memorandum, saying the 90-day delay enables businesses to adjust their operations.

Sports Betting Across State Lines

Under the travel act, illegal gambling constitutes an unlawful activity. So, if you drive across state lines or send materials in the mail or over the phone in order to participate in illegal gambling, you may be in violation of the Travel Act. If My State Allows a Certain Type of Gambling, Can I Still Violate the Travel Act? The Wire Act now only restricts interstate online betting, which means that state-regulated online sportsbooks are not permitted to accept bets across state lines or from sources outside of the United States. This is a stark contrast from the law’s previous application which effectively prohibited all US based online sportsbook activity. Sports Betting Across State Lines – With the American sports betting revolution now in full swing, there are some who believe that interstate betting (that is, sports betting across state lines) is soon to be the next big step! However, the Federal Wire Act may have something to say about that.

The legal opinion in question, published to the media on Monday. It says the long-standing Federal Wire Act should also apply to all other forms of gambling that cross state lines.

Gambling across state linesGambling

This complete reversal of a previous legal opinion decided upon by the Justice Department in 2011. This was that online interstate gambling that did not involve sporting events did not violate the Federal Wire Act.

Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas Sands Corp CEO will warmly welcome the Justice Department’s revised legal opinion.

Just before this year’s University of Texas-Oklahoma University football game, a group that hopes for legalized casino gaming across Texas hatched a radio ad about how much Texans spend gambling.

Reports say the 83-year-old billionaire’s Sands Corporation employed five lobbying firms. This, in the third quarter of last year, two of which concentrated on online gambling and the wire act.

This, it has been claimed by his opponents, is because of Adelson’s belief that online gambling, especially across state lines, takes away business from his brick-and-mortar gaming operations.

How the Wire Act May Affect New Jersey

Sports Gambling Across State Lines

The Justice Department’s new legal opinion is a special cause of concern right now for New Jersey. Because, together with Nevada and Delaware, has an interstate compact for online poker that was created a few years ago.

Illegal

New Jersey and Delaware did not have any immediate comment to make, a Reuters report said. However, the Nevada Gaming Control Board is studying the department’s opinion “to determine its ramifications.”

Illegal Gambling Across State Lines

Will the new developments in the wire act affect New Jersey’s thriving new sports betting industry in any way?

Because sports betting is the only form of gambling in the US currently prohibited from out-of-state online gambling, the answer is yes.

NJ led the fight that saw the Federal law prohibiting sports betting in most US States struck down in mid-2018.

Gambling Across State Lines

They might see further court action over gambling as a good opportunity to also have the Wire Act struck down.

Wire Act Gambling Across State Lines

They could accept bets from, not just within New Jersey as they do now, but from all over the USA.