DOJ Appeals the District Court Decision on Wire Act Case

The Department of Justice has filed its intent to appeal a district court decision on the Wire Act to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

In June, a federal judge in the New Hampshire District ruled that the Wire Act applies only to sports betting and not to other forms of interstate gaming.

The New Hampshire Lottery and its vendor had filed the federal case because of the DOJ’s change in stance on the interpretation of the Wire Act.

The DOJ in 2011 had stated that the Wire Act applied only to sports wagering. But it reversed the course with a memo from 2018, expanding the possible reach for federal prosecution which triggered worries about its applicability to online gambling, lotteries and other forms of gaming that potentially cross state lines.

The New Hampshire District judge had forecast that the case would likely reach the US Supreme Court. While the case is going on, the DOJ has said it would not enforce the new interpretation of the Wire Act until 2020.

“The Department’s action, while hardly unexpected, is certainly unwarranted. DOJ generally files appeals of adverse district court decisions as a matter of course. 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 U.S. and do not appropriately protect consumers,” Jeff Ifrah, founder of iDEA Growth (an online gambling lobbying group) said.