Hoping for a reaffirmation of the Department of Justice’s 2011 interpretation of the Federal Wire Act, the state of New Jersey is seeking a Biden administration finding that internet gambling is legal within the United States. The 2011 ruling was reversed in 2018 by the Trump administration.
“It’s time for the DOJ to lift the fog of ambiguity surrounding this important national issue,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal told NJ.com.
Added Grewal, “The many state services and programs supported by gaming revenue and tax dollars would have been devastated in 2020 without online gaming. Internet gaming has for years been, and remains, an essential industry here, one the Department of Justice viewed since 2011 as perfectly legal until its baseless backtracking.”
New Jersey booked $970 million in internet-gambling revenue in 2020.
While the Justice Department would not comment on the Garden State’s plea, it did announce yesterday that it would not appeal a First Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in New Hampshire’s challenge to the Trump administration opinion. The appellate panel had held that the New Hampshire Lottery Commission and Pollard Interactive’s online games were legal. Specifically, on January 20, the circuit court stated, “We find that the plaintiffs’ claims are justiciable and that the Wire Act applies only to interstate wire communications related to sporting events or contests.”
By not challenging that ruling, Attorney General Merrick Garland effectively reverts to the Obama administration’s 2011 position, rendering the 2018 reversal moot. President Joe Biden had made a campaign promise to avoid “adding unnecessary restrictions to the gaming industry like the Trump Administration has done.”
However, a Justice Department about-face on the New Hampshire case is not enough for states’ attorneys general like Grewal. Holding that it applied only to the litigants in the New Hampshire matter, he is asking for an explicit renunciation of the 2018 position.
In a formal announcement, Grewal said, “States have no interest in pursuing legal cases in every federal circuit to obtain a ruling like the one issued by the First Circuit, nor is litigation a good use of the Department’s resources. But states need finality on this issue before they invest more resources in the development of online lottery platforms. The Department can and should put an end to this matter once and for all.”
In addition, 25 attorneys general forwarded a six-page letter to Garland deputy Lisa Monaco, asking Justice to end a 764-day “review” of the Wire Act and endorse the First Circuit opinion. (CDC Gaming Reports was cited as a source in the letter.)
