Mark Hichar, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig presented a summary of the DOJ’s Opinion issued January 14, 2019, “reversing” its 2011 opinion and declaring the federal Wire Act (18 U.S.C. § 1084) to apply to all types of wagering, not only betting on sports events.
He described some of the practical effects of this new interpretation on state lotteries and other operators of non-sports wagering that involve a “wire communication facility” (which term includes the internet).
Finally, he described the status of the litigation in New Hampshire seeking a court order declaring (1) that the DOJ’s new interpretation wrong and (2) that the Wire Act is applicable only to betting on sporting events.
Mark Hichar, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP