CONCORD, N.H. - A federal judge ruled Monday that a law prohibiting interstate wagering applies only to sports gambling, setting aside a Justice Department opinion that some states feared would make online lottery activities illegal and put the programs they fund at risk. The case revolves around the Wire Act, a 1961 law meant to target the mob that prohibits interstate wagering. Decades later and with the internet ruling everyone’s lives, New York and Illinois asked the Obama administration whether selling lottery tickets online violated the law. The department in 2011 concluded that online gambling within states that does not involve sporting events would not break the law. That raised concerns about the viability of online poker and other gambling across states, as well as state lotteries.

Source: thestar June 03, 2019 21:33 UTC