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Individual states are the most likely beneficiaries of a new stance taken by the US Justice Department, which essentially concluded that online poker will not be deemed as illegal on the federal level should state law mandate otherwise. Nevada is one such state that has already approved a regulatory framework. Those in the poker community hope that smaller states will ultimately follow Nevada’s lead and pool their player base with the Silver State.
Lee Amaitis, president and CEO of Cantor Gaming, believes Nevada has enough players to support the industry in the short term.
“If there are 1.7 million people in the state who are old enough to play legally, that represents a pretty good market to pursue,” he said after regulators unanimously approved the new online poker rules this past Thursday. The DOJ announced its change of position the very next day.
In a sweeping reversal, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded that online poker and lotteries within a state would no longer be considered illegal because the Wire Act—a law with contradictory language that has long been the subject of debate—doesn't apply to any forms of gambling other than sports betting. A subsequent law, the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, passed in late 2006 but specifically references “unlawful Internet gambling”. There is now a question as to whether online poker falls under that “unlawful” category and would be applied under UIGEA.
Laura Sweeney, a spokeswoman from the Justice Department said in an emailed statement that the department would still be able to investigate and prosecute gambling businesses under laws other than the Wire Act. Executives from three large US-facing online poker companies were charged with money laundering and bank fraud last April after they allegedly disguised money transactions as something other than gambling. There is hope, however, that banks may be more open to allowing these types of transactions in the near future.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
