[konck]

A few days early, the U.S. Department of Justice has given poker players a Christmas presents of sorts. The DOJ, which has long held the position that the Wire Act of 1961 applies to all forms of internet gambling, changed their position and now believe the 50-year-old law only applies to sports betting and not other forms of online gambling, including poker and lotteries.
The DOJ had been asked for their opinion on the Wire Act as it pertained to lotteries in New York and Illinois. In the documents released on Friday the DOJ took the position that “interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a “sporting event or contest” fall outside the reach of the Wire Act”.
While the DOJ’s new position is a potential boon to state-run lotteries that wish to sell tickets online, it removes a potential barrier for online poker in the United States. The Poker Players Alliance has already released a statement applauding the DOJ.
“This is a much needed clarification of an antiquated and often confusing law. For years, legal scholars and even the courts have debated whether the Wire Act applies to non-sporting activity. Today’s announcement validates the fact that Internet poker does not violate this law,” said John Pappas, PPA’s executive director. “The PPA commends Assistant Attorney General Seitz for recognizing this. However, this ruling makes it even more important that Congress act now to clarify federal law, and to create a licensing and regulation regime for Internet poker, coupled with clear laws and strong enforcement against other forms of gambling deemed to be illegal.”
In the memo the DOJ also attempts to distance this ruling from anything to do with the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act.
“In light of that conclusion, we need not consider how to reconcile the Wire Act with UIGEA, because the Wire Act does not apply in this situation. Accordingly, we express no view about the proper interpretation or scope of UIGEA,” the memo reads.
Hopefully the USA will run thier sites and govern them fairly not the cheating dirty underworld fuks stealing everyones money

[Bluehorseshoe]

This part of the article is really interesting...

(Reuters) - The Obama administration cleared the way for states to legalize Internet poker and certain other online betting in a switch that may help them reap billions in tax revenue and spur web-based gambling.

A Justice Department opinion dated September and made public on Friday reversed decades of previous policy that included civil and criminal charges against operators of some of the most popular online poker sites.

Until now, the department held that online gambling in all forms was illegal under the Wire Act of 1961, which bars wagers via telecommunications that cross state lines or international borders.

The new interpretation, by the department's Office of Legal Counsel, said the Wire Act applies only to bets on a "sporting event or contest," not to a state's use of the Internet to sell lottery tickets to adults within its borders or abroad.

"The United States Department of Justice has given the online gaming community a big, big present," said I. Nelson Rose, a gaming law expert at Whittier Law School who consults for governments and the industry.

The question at issue was whether proposals by Illinois and New York to use the Internet and out-of-state transaction processors to sell lottery tickets to in-state adults violated the Wire Act.

But the department's conclusion would eliminate "almost every federal anti-gambling law that could apply to gaming that is legal under state laws," Rose wrote on his blog at www.gamblingandthelaw.com.

If a state legalized intra-state games such as poker, as Nevada and the District of Columbia have done, "there is simply no federal law that could apply" against their operators, he said.

The department's opinion, written by Assistant Attorney General Virginia Seitz, said the law's legislative history showed that Congress's overriding goal had been to halt wire communications for sports gambling, notably off-track betting on horse races.

Congress also had been concerned about rapid transmission of betting information on baseball, basketball, football and boxing among other sports-related events or contests, she summarized the legislative history as showing.

"The ordinary meaning of the phrase 'sporting event or contest' does not encompass lotteries," Seitz wrote. "Accordingly, we conclude that the proposed lotteries are not within the prohibitions of the Wire Act."

The department expressed no opinion about a provision in the law that lets prosecutors shut down phone lines where interstate or foreign gambling is taking place.

Many of the 50 U.S. states may be interested in creating online lotteries to boost tax revenues and help offset the ripple effect of a federal deficit-reduction push.

The global online gambling industry grew 12 percent last year to as much as $30 billion, according to a survey in March by Global Betting and Gaming Consultancy, based on the Isle of Man, where online gambling is legal.

Federal prosecutors in April charged three of the biggest Internet poker companies with fraud and money-laundering along with violations of another federal law, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 1986.

The government outlined an alleged scheme by owners of the three largest online poker companies - Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars - to funnel gambling profits to online shell companies that would appear legitimate to banks processing payments.

Why would they care?

[ttwarrior1]

old news

[neverstoppers23]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/...-gambling.html

looks like positve things. poker and online lotto games.

[Gene24]

So for lottery all it means is you can now buy your states only tickets online or all states? If you are too lazy to go to the corner store to buy a lottery ticket then you got a problem..