Clicky

Congress Reportedly Planning to Defund DOJ Wire Act Opinion - PennsylvaniaCasinos.com News : PennsylvaniaCasinos.com News
us-congress
Published on
Update on

Just a little over two weeks after a federal court ruled against its recent reinterpretation of the 1961 Wire Act, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has suffered yet another potential blow. This is because Congress has taken a keen interest in fighting against the recently-published Wire Act opinion that was set to effectively culminate in the suspension of gambling activities across a number of states in the country. In fact, Congress has even gone as far as filing a bill that is proposing that no funds be made available to the DOJ in its attempt to redefine the scope of the Wire Act.

Filed by the Rules Committee, the new proposal or amendment has already received backers – Rep. Hank Johnson, the sponsor of the proposal, is joined by a decent number of noteworthy lawmakers including Rep. Andy Barr and Rep. Sanford Bishop. From the looks of things, this might just be a losing battle for the DOJ and part of this is caused by the increasing opposition that has been mounted against the Office of the Legal Counsel. Furthermore, the Rules Committee seems to have an upper hand in this fight since it is the body that is in charge of paying the DOJ’s salaries.

If history is anything to go by, Congress rarely beats around the bush which means that their stance on the DOJ’s recent Wire Act opinion has been made pretty clear.

“None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to enforce the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel memorandum entitled ‘Reconsidering Whether the Wire Act Applies to Non-Sports Gambling’ (issued on November 2, 2018),” reads the opening section of the filing.

In other words, the Department of Justice will not be getting any funding to enforce their new opinion. To make matters even worse for the department, they have also recently suffered a huge loss in New Hampshire. Moreover, a number of other states with online gaming industries have openly expressed their opposition to the new opinion with the state lotteries being some of the most vocal. Putting all of these factors into consideration, the DOJ’s plans have been sent into complete disarray and one of the very limited options that it has left is to retreat.

What Next?

The Rules Committee is set to meet on Tuesday, June 25 at 5 p.m. to consider the bill with the amendment in question being subject to a simple up-down vote. Unfortunately for the Department of Justice, this does not leave any room for any more discussion on the Wire Act. Needless to say, even though the amendment will not affect the scope of the law itself, it is going to effectively prevent the Department from enforcing its new opinion.

Latest Headlines

New State Legislation Targets Smoking in Pennsylvania Casinos

For the second year in a row, Pennsylvania State Representative Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny) has spoken out against allowing smoking exemptions at some companies, such as casinos. He has submitted a bill in Harrisburg, the state capital, that would make it illegal to smoke inside casinos and other businesses that are now excluded from the law. […]

Caesars Palace Online Casino Makes a Mark in Pennsylvania

Caesars has released a fresh initiative to strengthen its position in the expanding market of Pennsylvania online casinos. In its new guise as Caesars Palace Online Casino, the company hopes to compete with other top providers in Pennsylvania. Not just in Pennsylvania, but throughout the country, industry behemoths like DraftKings, BetMGM, and FanDuel have a […]

Pennsylvania Gaming Industry Reaches New Revenue Milestone

During the fiscal year 2022-2023, the gaming sector in Pennsylvania was on a phenomenal growth trajectory, setting multiple new revenue records. These milestones are reflective of the growing gambling market in the state. The PGCB reported record-breaking gaming revenue of $5.51 billion for the fiscal year. This figure represents a considerable rise of 10.0% above […]

Pennsylvania’s Self-Exclusion Program Reaches the 20,000 Mark

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) has achieved a significant milestone by processing its 20,000th voluntary request for self-exclusion from the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos. Pennsylvania’s Casino Self-Exclusion Program first launched in 2006 to provide gamblers with the option of excluding themselves from the state’s legal casinos and retail sportsbooks. The PGCB, under the leadership of […]

Pennsylvania’s iGaming Wake-Up Call

Through the first four months of 2018, the gambling business in Pennsylvania has continued its increasing trend. In April, gambling establishments in Pennsylvania raked in more than $476,7 million. As compared to April of 2022, that’s an improvement of 3.2%. In April of 2023, the state’s revenue hit $420 million for the ninth consecutive month. […]

Similar Stories in Gambling

Bill to Abolish Excise Tax on Legal Sports Betting Introduced in US Congress

The United States’ sports betting industry is still taking shape even though it has been a little over three years since PASPA was abolished. While states are now able to decide for themselves whether they would like to launch sports betting industries or not, the federal government still has some ties with the sports betting […]

Pennsylvania ‘Skill Games’ Still on the Spotlight

Earlier this month, “game of skill machines” which are classified under the “Pennsylvania Skill” brand were subject to lots of drama. These gaming machines which are very similar to slot machines have been on the receiving end of a number of rather controversial decisions with a number of police raids being organized and court orders […]

US Department of Justice Files Notice of Appeal for Wire Act

On Friday, August 16, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) officially filed a Notice of Appeal in the civil case that it recently lost to the New Hampshire Lottery Commission (NHLC) over the reinterpretation of the 1961 Wire act opinion. The Notice of Appeal was filed by the DOJ, led by Attorney General William […]

Federal Court Delivers Decision on the 1961 Wire Act Case

Last Monday, the state of New Hampshire won the legal challenge against the US Department of Justice’s revises opinion of the 1961 Wire Act. Paul Barbadoro, the federal judge who presided over the case, ruled that the Wire Act applies only to sports betting and not all forms of online gambling as stipulated by the […]