Last week, the United states District Court for the District of New Hampshire brought great news for the US on-line poker marketplace – for what a few states have built therefore far and also the future of on-line poker in America in general.
The decision by District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro came down on the side of the online gaming business, including lotteries as well as other types of online gaming, as he ruled that the Wire Act pertains only to sports betting. He affirmed the 2011 Division of Justice legal opinion to that impact, which opened the on-line poker and gaming market in the US.
And with that ruling, the World Series of Poker announced that it’ll again open all of its 2019 WSOP online bracelet events this summer time to players in New Jersey as well as in Nevada.
Till now, the availability from the majority of those events was doubtful, as the DOJ was ready to place its newest opinion concerning the Wire Act into impact, and that would have prohibited interstate online poker after June 14. However the reversal of that DOJ opinion by way of the US District Court ruling enables on-line poker operators to continue as usual.
Pokerfuse confirmed that the WSOP will, in fact, be welcoming players from New Jersey and Nevada to its on-line events throughout the summer series.
The situation for online poker in America had been complex by the 2018 opinion written by the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, the 1 published in January 2019.
Essentially, that DOJ opinion reversed the one made in 2011 that interpreted the Wire Act as pertaining only to sports betting. In 2011, the DOJ allowed states to legalize and regulate on-line lotteries, online casino games, and internet poker, but the newest interpretation – extensively believed to have been influenced by anti-online gambling billionaire Sheldon Adelson – muddied the waters yet once more.
Upon its publication in January, the DOJ choice was not well received. Actually, states and lottery entities lined up to sue the US Justice Department. The New Hampshire Lottery Commission took the reins and headed to the District Court, exactly where Barbadoro weighed both sides of the arguments concerning the Wire Act.
Meanwhile, then-US Deputy Lawyer Common Rod Rosenstein place a hold on the implementation from the new DOJ opinion, pushing its date out twice, first to provide states and on-line gaming and lottery operators time to make adjustments to comply with the new regulations, and second to await the decision from the District Court.
That decision last week in favor of the New Hampshire Lottery Commission and its on-line lottery platform provider, NeoPollard, officially set aside the recent DOJ decision and ruled that the Wire Act does not apply to on-line lotteries, casino games, and poker.
The WSOP had been cautious as it awaited the District Court decision.
In order not to violate the DOJ’s most current opinion, Globe Series of Poker officials decided to only keep its first two on-line bracelet events open to New Jersey players. Each of these had been scheduled prior to June 14, the deadline set by Rosenstein.
However, after Judge Barbadoro overturned that DOJ choice, the WSOP felt it could proceed as usual.