Gamble free or die: Wire Act view faces New Hampshire challenge

New Hampshire’s state lottery has filed a legal challenge of the US Department of Justice’s new opinion that the Wire Act’s scope isn’t limited to sports betting.

On Friday, the New Hampshire Lottery Commission (NHLC) and the state’s Attorney General Gordon McDonald filed a complaint in the US District Court for New Hampshire, naming the DOJ and newly appointed Attorney General William Barr as defendants.

The complaint challenges the DOJ’s recently issued opinion that the 1961 Wire Act applies to all forms of interstate gambling, which potentially jeopardizes all current and future intrastate online gambling and lottery operations.

The NHLC argues that the DOJ’s new opinion ignores “clear, binding precedents” on the scope of the Wire Act, not to mention the DOJ’s 2011 opinion that set the stage for the launch of intrastate online lottery, casino and poker products in a handful of states.