Legal Developments

The American Gaming Association’s Responsible Marketing Code for Sports Wagering is the nation’s highest non-legislative code of conduct related to sports betting advertising. As the primary trade association representing the US casino industry, which includes sports betting operators and their land-based partners, the AGA has significant influence over the direction of legal sports betting. In…

The Department of Justice is under increasing pressure to crack down on offshore sportsbooks and casinos. A campaign began by the American Gaming Association (AGA) in April has culminated in a Congressional letter to the Department of Justice requesting action against illegal online gambling operators.

Update: Corzy Zeidman has plead guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, he faces up to 20 years in prison and will forfeit $3.6 million in ill-gotten gains. The US Department of Justice has indicted a professional poker player and WSOP bracelet winner for participating in an alleged $25 million sports…

The 1961 Wire Act is back in the news after the lottery and online gambling provider, IGT, announced it is suing the Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland. The 18-page complaint seeks a declaratory judgment on the Wire Act, noting the court ruling from earlier this year only applies to New Hampshire.

As he did in the last session, Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA) has introduced legislation, The Greyhound Protection Act of 2021, that would amend the 1961 Wire Act to prohibit greyhound racing.

Entain PLC, the London-listed betting and gambling group announced in a press release that it has completed the acquisition of leading esports betting operator, Unikrn. Entain previously announced it was in the process of purchasing the technology, products, and brand from Unikrn. The deal’s completion gives Entain a readymade platform and the expertise it needs…

DraftKings and investment research firm Hindenburg Research are at odds after a report surfaced questioning technology provider SBTech, an entity that merged with DraftKings in 2020 when the company went public. Hindenburg claims that half of SBTech’s revenues came from markets where gambling is illegal.

A new effort is afoot to remove barriers preventing federally recognized tribes from offering online gambling products. According to the title of the new bill, HR 4308, it seeks “to remove Federal barriers regarding the offering of mobile wager son Indian lands when the applicable State and Indian Tribe have reached an agreement.”  

With legal sports betting spreading across the country, a federal excise tax placed on legal sports wagers in the 1950s could be going by the wayside. The quarter-percent “handle tax” on legal sports wagers (and 2% on illegal wagers) was initially enacted “to facilitate the enforcement of state criminal laws against gambling.”

The Wire Act has long been a thorn in the side of legal, regulated online gambling advocates. That thorn may have finally been removed by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld a lower court’s decision that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting, not other forms of online gambling.