DOJ Will Not Appeal Wire Act Ruling

The United States Department of Justice has lost another appeal regarding the 1961 Wire Act and online betting, and the new administration has indicated that they won't press the case any further.

The First District Court of Appeals rejected the DOJ's take that the Wire Act applies to online betting as well as sportsbetting, dealing another blow to attempts to outlaw online betting regulation in states, which has been growing. The DOJ had been pressing the case during the Trump administration after the Obama administration's DOJ said that the Wire Act doesn't apply to online betting. Somehow, they were arguing that the 1961 act applied to internet betting, despite the fact that the internet didn't exist back then.

It's likely that the Trump DOJ was pushed by GOP donor Sheldon Adelson, who was a staunch anti-online betting activist until he died last week.

With the Biden administration coming into power yesterday, the DOJ has indicated that they'll not be pushing the case further, which will continue opening the market for online sportsbooks, casinos, and lotteries within the United States. The current stance is that individual states have the power to legalize and offer the services themselves and that no federal stance is needed to offer those products.