\nOnline 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 legalized years ago,” Grewal said in a release. “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.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Adelson \u2013 estimated to be worth $38 billion by Forbes <\/i>\u2013 has been on a personal mission to ban online gambling since the same Office of Legal Counsel essentially gave states the right to dictate their own laws on intrastate betting. While the casino tycoon says he has a moral motive, believing that online gambling puts casinos into pockets of anyone with a smartphone, Grewal opined that the expansion of online gaming is simply “a threat to his brick-and-mortar casino businesses.”<\/p>\nAdelson Lobbying<\/b><\/h2>\n
Campaign finance records show that it isn’t a great stretch of the imagination that the DOJ under President Donald Trump’s administration might have agreed to take another look at the Wire Act in order to at least partially please Adelson. The billionaire has been the Republican Party’s largest donor in each of the last two election cycles, giving more than $200 million to GOP efforts.<\/p>\n
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Trump recognized Jerusalem as “the true capital of Israel” and moved the US embassy there, something that Adelson’s Republican Jewish Coalition has long sought. Adelson’s wife Miriam was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Trump for being “a committed doctor, philanthropist, and humanitarian.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Las Vegas Sands spent $280,000 in lobbying fees in the first quarter of 2019, with $30,000 paid to the Lincoln Policy Group for online gambling issues.<\/p>\n
Live Wire<\/b><\/h2>\n
State lotteries, attorneys general, casino executives, and congressional and state lawmakers are all in search of a clearer explanation from the DOJ over the new Wire Act interpretation. For the time being, the federal agency says there is no threat of prosecution until the department gives “these issues the deliberate consideration they deserve.”<\/p>\n
The DOJ brass has been a revolving door. The latest to depart the agency<\/a> is Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the man who agreed to direct the Office of Legal Counsel to review the Wire Act last year.<\/strong><\/p>\nAdelson is battling non-Hodgkin lymphoma at the age of 85. The billionaire has missed the company’s last two earnings calls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal is suing the Department of Justice for allegedly failing to comply with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests over the federal agency’s recent Wire Act interpretation. Filed in the US District Court in New Jersey, Grewal is seeking information on whether lobbyists working on behalf of Las Vegas Sands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":104451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
New Jersey Attorney General Demands Answers on DOJ Wire Act<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n