The Interstate Wire Act of 1961, often called the Federal Wire Act, is a

United States federal law The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as ...

prohibiting the operation of certain types of

betting Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...

businesses in the United States. It begins with the text: Several legal opinions and rulings have discussed whether forms of gambling other than

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

fall within the Act's scope.

Background

After being selected to become

US Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

suggested to the

87th United States Congress The 87th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 196 ...

to pass legislation which would make interstate gambling illegal. Kennedy's goal of the legislation was to help the

United States Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

stop

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

from

trafficking Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

.Schwartz (2010), p. 553 One of the eight bills given to Congress was Senate Bill 1656—The Wire Act.

Signing

The Interstate Anti-Crime Acts were signed by the 35th President of the United States

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

on September 13, 1961.

Applicability to gambling other than sports betting

In September 2011, the

US Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

released to the public a formal legal opinion on the scope of the Act concluding, "interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a 'sporting event or contest' fall outside the reach of the Wire Act." A new Department of Justice opinion dated November 2, 2018 reversed the 2011 opinion, declaring that the Wire Act's prohibitions are "not uniformly limited to gambling on sporting events or contests." The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Wire Act prohibition on the transmission of wagers applies only to

and not other types of

online gambling Online gambling is any kind of gambling conducted on the internet. This includes virtual poker, casinos and sports betting. The first online gambling venue opened to the general public was ticketing for the Liechtenstein International Lottery i ...

. The Supreme Court has not ruled on the meaning of the Federal Wire Act as it pertains to online gambling. In an opinion issued November 2018 and published January 2019, the Department of Justice stated that the Federal Wire Act applies to all

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

and not just sports betting. On January 15, 2019, Deputy Attorney General

Rod Rosenstein Rod Jay Rosenstein (; born January 13, 1965) is an American attorney who served as the 37th United States deputy attorney general from April 2017 until May 2019. Prior to his appointment, he served as a United States attorney for the District ...

announced that the Department of Justice would delay enforcement of the 2018 OLC opinion for 90 days to "give businesses that relied on the 2011 OLC opinion time to bring their operations into compliance with federal law." On February 15, 2019, the New Hampshire Lottery Commission filed a complaint in the US District Court for New Hampshire, naming the Department of Justice and Attorney General

William Barr William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney who served as the 77th and 85th United States attorney general in the administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush and Donald Trump. Born and raised in New York City, Barr ...

as defendants. The suit asks the Court to vacate and set aside the OLC's new opinion, which the Commission claims will reduce its annual profits by millions of dollars. New Hampshire Gov.

Chris Sununu Christopher Thomas Sununu ( ; born November 5, 1974) is an American politician and engineer who has served as the 82nd governor of New Hampshire since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Sununu was a member of the New Hampshire Executive Coun ...

said the state wasn't interested in negotiating an out-of-court settlement, "we're looking to win." On June 3, 2019, U.S. District Court Judge

Paul Barbadoro Paul James Barbadoro (born June 4, 1955) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire. In July 2016, he was appointed by Chief Justice Roberts as the chair of the Executive Committ ...

issued a summary judgment that the Wire Act "is limited to sports gambling" and set aside the 2018 OLC opinion. A Department of Justice spokesperson said the government was reviewing the decision. On August 16, 2019, the Department of Justice filed notice of its intention to appeal Barbadoro's ruling to the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals. On January 20, 2021, Circuit Court Judge William Joseph Kayatta Jr. affirmed the district court's decision. In November 2021,

International Game Technology International Game Technology PLC (IGT), formerly Gtech S.p.A. and Lottomatica S.p.A., is a multinational gambling company that produces slot machines and other gambling technology. The company is headquartered in London, with major offices in ...

filed a lawsuit against the DOJ (

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

) over the Federal Wire Act. IGT’s attorneys presented their case in the District Court of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, claiming that the opinion issued by the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel in 2018 during the

Donald Trump Administration Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory o ...

had forced the biggest iGaming company in the United States to spend resources on potential lawsuits filed by the government. Their goal was to make the court declare the 2018 opinion unlawful. On February 24, 2022, the

filed a motion to dismiss IGT’s lawsuit. The DOJ representatives said that “the company (IGT) didn’t provide sufficient evidence to confirm its claim that there’s a threat of prosecution.” The DOJ’s office has once again stated the Federal Wire Act does not apply to lottery and

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

services. IGT asked for additional time to respond to these arguments.

Notes

References

* {{Cite journal , last=Schwartz , first=David , date=September 2010 , title=Not Undertaking the Almost-Impossible Task: The 1961 Wire Act's Development, Initial Applications, and Ultimate Purpose , journal=Gaming Law Review and Economics , volume=14 , issue=7 , pages=533–540 , doi=10.1089/glre.2010.14708, url=https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1120&context=lib_articles

External links