{"id":107410,"date":"2019-06-20T05:51:10","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T12:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=107410"},"modified":"2019-06-24T08:32:47","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T15:32:47","slug":"amendment-to-defund-doj-wire-act-enforcement-withdrawn-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amendment-to-defund-doj-wire-act-enforcement-withdrawn-in-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Amendment to Defund DOJ Wire Act Enforcement Not Taken Up by Rules Committee Due to ‘Technical Error’"},"content":{"rendered":"

An amendment on Capitol Hill that would have blocked funding to the Department of Justice specifically for the enforcement of its new interpretation of the Wire Act<\/a> did not go to the House floor for a full vote.<\/p>\n

\"Wire
US Rep. Hank Johnson\u2019s amendment briefly signalled a possible push back by Congress against the DOJ\u2019s Wire Act interpretation, but it was not taken up by the Rules Committee due to a technical error in filing. (Image: YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As first spotted by Online Poker Report<\/em>, the amendment was tagged onto an appropriations bill on Tuesday, HR 3055 — the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act — which is directly responsible for funding the Justice Department.<\/p>\n

The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) and cosponsored by Reps. Sanford Bishop (D-Georgia) and Andy Barr (R-Kentucky). Presumably, the three lawmakers are seeking to protect the lottery industries of their respective states, which have been jeopardized by the DOJ\u2019s opinion that the Wire Act\u2019s prohibitions include all forms of gambling and not just sports betting.<\/p>\n

The amendment stated:<\/p>\n

None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to enforce the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel memorandum entitled \u2018Reconsidering Whether the Wire Act Applies to Non-Sports Gambling.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

HR 3055 was heard by the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, which passed the bill to the Committee of the Whole, but the amendment was not called for a vote and was later listed as \u201cwithdrawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a spokesman for Rep. Johnson’s office told Casino.org that the amendment had not been withdrawn, but was not considered by the Rules Committee due to “technical error” in filing.<\/p>\n

“This particular amendment will have to be reintroduced either later in this Congress \u2014 the 116th \u2014 or the next Congress, 117th,” the spokesman said.<\/p>\n

Congress Resistance Fizzles Out<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The amendment ignited short-lived excitement over the possibility that Congress might deliver a second body blow to the DOJ over its controversial Wire Act opinion, following a federal court judgment at the beginning of the month that contradicted the new stance.<\/p>\n

The DOJ\u2019s Office of Legal Counsel published an opinion in January that reversed an Obama era opinion that paved the way for state-sanctioned online lotteries and other forms of gaming.<\/p>\n

The Wire Act is 1961 law that concerns itself with interstate gambling and was enacted in a bid to target the revenues of organized crime.<\/p>\n

\n

In asserting that it applies to gambling other than sports betting, the DOJ threatens the online lottery operations of states across America and the tax revenues they generate, as well as the online gaming markets of the handful of states that had regulated online casino and poker.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There are concerns that criminal charges could be brought against operators where the transmission of gambling information across state lines is merely incidental and otherwise legal under state laws.<\/p>\n

DOJ Planning Appeal?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

After the New Hampshire Lottery Commission sued the federal government over the opinion, a US district judge in New Hampshire found that \u201cbased on the text, context, and structure of the Wire Act, I \u2026 conclude that the Act is limited to sports gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n

On June 12, the DOJ extended a moratorium<\/a> to federal attorneys and investigators ordering them to refrain from enforcing the new opinion of the Wire Act until 2020, which suggests it plans to appeal the ruling before that date.<\/p>\n

Many believe the reversal of the opinion was performed as a favour to LVS chairman and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson, who for many years bankrolled a legislative push for a federal ban on online gambling.<\/p>\n

The push failed to gather significant support in Congress for its trammelling of states\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

NB. This article was updated to reflect that the amendment had not technically been withdrawn.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An amendment on Capitol Hill that would have blocked funding to the Department of Justice specifically for the enforcement of its new interpretation of the Wire Act did not go to the House floor for a full vote. As first spotted by Online Poker Report, the amendment was tagged onto an appropriations bill on Tuesday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":107412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,60,13699,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAmendment to Defund DOJ Wire Act Enforcement Withdrawn Not Taken Up by Rules Committee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A brief Congressional push back and against the Department of Justice\u2019s new Wire Act opinion appears to have fizzled out before it got going.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amendment to Defund DOJ Wire Act Enforcement Withdrawn Not Taken Up by Rules Committee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A brief Congressional push back and against the Department of Justice\u2019s new Wire Act opinion appears to have fizzled out before it got going.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amendment-to-defund-doj-wire-act-enforcement-withdrawn-in-congress\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-20T12:51:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-24T15:32:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/hank.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amendment-to-defund-doj-wire-act-enforcement-withdrawn-in-congress\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amendment-to-defund-doj-wire-act-enforcement-withdrawn-in-congress\/\",\"name\":\"Amendment to Defund DOJ Wire Act Enforcement Withdrawn Not Taken Up by Rules Committee\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amendment-to-defund-doj-wire-act-enforcement-withdrawn-in-congress\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amendment-to-defund-doj-wire-act-enforcement-withdrawn-in-congress\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/hank.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-20T12:51:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-24T15:32:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"A brief Congressional push back and against the Department of Justice\u2019s new Wire Act opinion appears to have fizzled out before it got going.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amendment-to-defund-doj-wire-act-enforcement-withdrawn-in-congress\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amendment-to-defund-doj-wire-act-enforcement-withdrawn-in-congress\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amendment-to-defund-doj-wire-act-enforcement-withdrawn-in-congress\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/hank.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/hank.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"US Rep. 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