Wire Act Timeline• 1961—Wire Act Enacted• 1964—First State Lottery (NH)—no concern of Wire Act • 1988--First Interstate Lottery (Now Powerball)
• DC, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Rhode Island, Oregon, West Virginia• 2011: Whether Proposals by Illinois and New York to Use the Internet and Out-of-State Transaction
Processors to Sell Lottery Tickets to In-State Adults Violate the Wire Act, 35 Op. O.L.C. __ (2011) • Concluded that Wire Act applied to sports gambling and not to state lotteries
• 2018/ 2019: Reconsidering Whether the Wire Act Applies to Non-Sports Gambling, Issued February 15, 2019 (Slip Op. dated November 2, 2018)
• Enforcement stayed 90 days to April 15, 2019• February 2019—NH files lawsuit• February 28, 2019: Additional stay of 60 days issued staying enforcement to June 14, 2019• April 8, 2019: DOJ issues Memorandum directing USAs fom applying 1084(a) to state lotteries until
further direction from DOJ• June 3, 2019—Decision issued in New Hampshire Lottery Commission v. Barr
• Wire act applies only to sports gambling• 2018/2019 Opinion is “set aside.”
• June 12, 2019—Memorandum issued by DOJ: • Enforcement stayed until Dec. 31, 2019, or 60 days post final decision in NH case—whichever is
later• Exercise of prosecutorial discretion—not a safe harbor
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