New Jersey Sues DoJ Over Wire Act FOIA Request

The State of New Jersey announced that it has filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Justice (DoJ)…

…after it didn’t give the documentation the state required after the department revised its ruling on the 2011 Wire Act.

Revising the Wire Act

Back in January of this year, the DoJ revealed that it decided to revise the Wire Act and expand the ban of from sports betting to all forms of online gambling.

Many states, along with NJ, were infuriated by this decision, because their iGaming markets would be affected by it.

That is why New Jersey Attorney General, Gurbir Grewal, and his Pennsylvania colleague, Josh Shapiro, publicly attacked the department…

…because they both believe it was under the influence of anti-iGaming lobbyists.

The FOIA Request

They wanted assurance from DoJ which is why they filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and also wanted to know for certain that the Department won’t launch enforcement actions against licensed iGaming operators in both NJ and Pennsylvania.

Sheldon Adelson, founder, chairman, and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation has long been a critic of the expansion of online gaming in the US…

…and was accused of being the main lobbyist for the revision of the Wire Act.

Back in March, the DoJ said that it would process its FOIA request, but the state still hasn’t received any documents related to this.

Since the revised Wire Act will come into effect from June 14, Grewal said that it is highly necessary to get required answers.

As it is stated in the new lawsuit, the FOIA request must be fulfilled in 20 days.

A Word from the Attorney General

“Online gaming is an important part of New Jersey’s economy, and the residents of New Jersey deserve to know why the Justice Department is threatening to come after an industry we legalised years ago,” Grewal said.

“It’s especially important that we figure out whether this federal crackdown is the result of a lobbying campaign by a single individual seeking to protect his personal business interests.”

Still Not Transparent

Online gambling revenue in Jersey came up to $298.7 million during 2018…

…while the revenue coming from online casinos was at $277.4 million and $21.4 million came from poker.

After revising its opinion over the Wire Act, DoJ confused many people in the US because the department still hasn’t really made all rules clear and transparent.

The DoJ announced just last month that its revision doesn’t address whether the rules apply to interstate and online lotteries, which made NeoPollard push to “end the charade.”

This company, which is actually a vendor for the New Hampshire Lottery, publicly called out the Department and required the answers on determining if the Wire Act applies to interstate and online lotteries, or not.

Source:

“New Jersey sues DoJ over Wire Act FOIA request”, igamingbusiness.com, May 8, 2019.