2011 ban on interstate, foreign sports betting extended to online lotteries, poker, casinos
Last November, US Justice Department officials, having reviewed the nation's laws, quietly concluded that, oops, interstate and international internet gambling is actually illegal. For some reason, that view was only made public on Monday. And for now, this hot take is not being enforced across the country.
Published here [PDF], the opinion was written by the DoJ's Office of Legal Counsel, and is effectively a screeching U-turn on seven years of policy. In 2011, the office concluded that 18 US Code ยง 1084(a), which makes it illegal to use phones and telecommunications to gamble across state lines and the border, only applied to sports betting.
Well, the office was asked to think that over again, and it's come to another conclusion: online poker and similar internet gambling dens are also verboten, not just sports betting. That means e-casinos and online poker rooms with interstate and foreign players are operating illegally, according to the office's legal eagles.
[...] Gambling industry analyst Chris Grove told Reuters while the change won't affect big betting operations located offshore, online state lotteries and e-casinos in the country, whose annual revenues combined are just under US$500m, would be hit.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @01:24PM
Wonderful!
Now video game loot boxes and profit models based on such exploitation are now illegal in the US, right, provided the server ripping you off isn't located in your state?
Calling it something else only gives it a nickname.