New Year and new gambling changes
Welcome back from the holidays! Have you caught up with the gambling news yet? There’s one story out there making the rounds of the media from MSNBC to Fox News. It’s the Department of Justice’s change to their view on online gambling. Now this one is a bit complex so I’m going to try to put it in a gambler’s perspective rather that a legal perspective. Besides, I’m a better gambler than I am a lawyer (not actually a lawyer at all). This is going to require a history lesson.
For the last year, online gambling news has all been about the UIGEA or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. But here’s the trick. The UIGEA only calls for the enforcement of existing laws against internet gambling. Everyone admits that the UIGEA is poorly written and doesn’t clearly define what illegal internet gambling looks like. So, what made everyone consider online gambling illegal? Well, that was the Wire Act of 1961.
Now, here’s where we run into a history problem. Back in 1961 there was no online gambling and the internet as we know it today didn’t exist. So how did the wise folks in 1961 write a law to make something they didn’t know existed illegal? Well, they didn’t. The Wire Act was about sports betting and placing bets by wiring money. The Wire Act was just interpreted to apply to online gambling. But when the UIGEA got around to telling the DOJ that essentially they had to enforce the Wire Act by applying it to online gambling, the DOJ decided to take another look at the act. Now, I’m not a lawyer, but I assume the Department of Justice probably has a few on hand. And what those lawyers decided was that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting. So, you can’t place online sports bets. Poker and online casino games are up for grabs.
What does this mean for gamblers? Well, right now it means that there is no specific federal law against online gambling. Now, that doesn’t automatically make it legal, but it does open the door to the states to pass their own online gambling laws without violating federal law. Nevada already has online poker plans in motion. California has stated that it is looking at putting its lottery online. And we’re barely out of the holiday season. This is going to be an interesting year.