New Hampshire Wins Its Poker Case Versus Justice Department

The New Hampshire Lottery Commission has won its case against the US Justice Department.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the state (plaintiff), reaffirming that an archaic 1960's Wire Act only applies to sports betting.  This, in turn, provides that interstate poker remains legal.

A revised DOJ opinion claimed otherwise.

The NH Lottery’s case was based on the fear that the new opinion would prohibit interstate lottery jackpots.

Suffice it to say, the more expansive construction of the Wire Act adopted in 2018 caused great consternation among the many states and their vendors who, as the 2018 Opinion acknowledged, had “beg[u]n selling lottery tickets via the Internet after the issuance of [the] 2011 Opinion.” Not eager to scrap or shrink its lottery, the New Hampshire Lottery Commission and one of its vendors, NeoPollard, commenced this action in February 2019[…]

Individual states have now accelerated efforts to legalize online poker across state lines.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com