The Wire Act has appeared in the Florida sports betting case, though it has largely been an afterthought. This means interstate sports betting compacts, as we see for poker, will require a change at the federal level before they come into existence. However, the Wire Act’s safe harbor only applies to the information, not the bets themselves. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of information for use in news reporting of sporting events or contests, or for the transmission of information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on a sporting event or contest from a State or foreign country where betting on that sporting event or contest is legal into a State or foreign country in which such betting is legal. In short, the Wire Act bans the transmission of wagering information across state lines unless the transmission qualifies for one of the statute’s safe harbors: This is widely viewed as being the original intent of the statute’s authors. Despite efforts from the Trump Justice Department to expand the scope of the law to all gambling, the First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that view, joining the Fifth Circuit making it 2-0 for the Wire Act only applying to sports betting at the Circuit Courts of Appeals. These three lines have created a lot of controversy in recent years, with the most recent pressing questions centering on whether the law applies to all gambling or whether it just applies to sports betting. Whoever being engaged in the business of betting or wagering knowingly uses a wire communication facility for the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest, or for the transmission of a wire communication which entitles the recipient to receive money or credit as a result of bets or wagers, or for information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. As a result, many illegal operators appear to have stopped caring about the threat of the Wire Act.īut legal operators are still abiding by the Wire Act, and its primary effect now seems to be to require US sports betting operators to replicate operations in every state they enter. The Wire Act was a powerful tool because it gave the federal government a tool to target organized crime in an era when the interstate nature of organized crime somewhat hamstrung local law enforcement.Īt some point in the last 60 years, however, the Wire Act stopped being an enforcement priority for the Department of Justice and now serves primarily as an impediment to the efficient operation of legal businesses. It was a tool for the federal government to go after organized crime, who used interstate wire services to run their bookmaking operations around the country. The Wire Act came to be after nearly 10 years of debate. The statute passed as part of the Kennedy administration’s war on organized crime turned 60 this year, and it is time for a new look. Oh, wait, no: we do not wish the Wire Act a happy birthday. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to the Wire Act.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |