A 2018 DOJ opinion reversed the department’s prior position on the Wire Act, arguing that online gaming was prohibited under federal law.
In 2011, then President Barack Obama’s administration said the Wire Act only applied to sports betting and not iLotteries or online gaming.
New Jersey’s AG wants US Attorney General Merrick Garland to rescind the DOJ’s 2018 opinion and return its 2011 stance.
“It’s time for DOJ to lift the fog of ambiguity surrounding this important national issue,” Grewal wrote in a letter to Garland. “New Jersey’s legal gambling industry – and 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 is increasingly reliant on online gaming as a revenue source since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020 the state took in online revenue of $970m.
Online wagers usually make up 90% or more of New Jersey’s monthly sports betting handle, while iGaming revenue continually tops $100m a month.
There’s reason to think the current DOJ will side with New Jersey and the more than two dozen states seeking to clarify the department’s position on online gaming.
While campaigning for President, Joe Biden disagreed with the prior administration’s opinion, calling it “unnecessary.”
Grewal believes the Trump administration took its anti-online gambling stance for political rather than practical reasons.
“We maintained from the start that the Trump-era Wire Act ‘reinterpretation’ was politically-motivated and wrong on the law, and we’re proud to now join with our fellow states in calling for its official elimination,” Grewal wrote.
