DoJ reinterprets Wire Act; Poker is not a violation!

[grimReaper]

http://www.justice.gov/olc/2011/stat...es-opinion.pdf

DoJ as stated that the Wire Act, which supposedly made poker illegal under the UIGEA, only applies to "support events and contests." Therefore poker is not illegal on the federal level.

In recent news, Nevada approved regulations for online poker yesterday. News links (thanks to a 2p2 poster)


PC Mag.com: Nevada Greenlights Online Poker Within State Borders
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398041,00.asp

USA Today: Nevada adopts rules for Internet poker licenses
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/poker...ses/52195208/1

WSJ: Justice Opinion Finds Room for Web Gambling
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

Breaking: Department of Justice Adjusts Stance on Internet Poker
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news...internet-poker
http://news.bluffmagazine.com/us-doj...betting-25683/
http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/...s-legal-199568
http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/...ire-act-199566

Nevada Legalizes Online Poker
http://reason.com/blog/2011/12/23/ne...s-online-poker
http://www.parttimepoker.com/hnr-122...duhamel-update
http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/...the-doj-199570

[jspill]

great news!

[travz21]

So wtf does this mean? Can the big sites open up to us without getting frozen again?

[grimReaper]

So wtf does this mean? Can the big sites open up to us without getting frozen again?

Not PS/AP/UB due to the BF agreement. Potentially FT - Tapie and DoJ agreed that FT would be allowed into the US market. Though there's a little controversy on that as it'll be up to the regulators on who is allowed to get a license.

Maybe the rest of the sites like Party, but not immediately. UIGEA still enforces illegal gambling and each state has their own laws with respect to gambling, e.g regulations, who can offer games etc, and states like WA have a complete ban.

Congress should know that if they don't act soon, intrastate sites are going to pop up, so this should be a strong push at the federal level. And if not, then we have intrastate poker for the time being, which will hopefully evolve into combined player pools. Nevada will accept license applicants in February, but unfortunately, Loveman said these regulators can take up to 1 year to get their act together.

We should have a clearer picture of which way things are headed a few months now.

[grimReaper]

One clarification iirc is that the indictments were not based on violation of the Wire Act, rather violation of state laws. However, DoJ's clarification of the Wire Act allows intrastate poker and instrastate pooling among the states that agree.

[grimReaper]

I asked the following questions:

1) Does Nevada still have to pass legislation before the first hand is dealt?
2) How long will the regulators take to license sites? (1 year?)
3) How long before 1) and 2) are satisfied?
4) Estimates on how long before CA either pools with NV or has its own intrastate play?

And a respected poster on another forum responded:

1. Nevada already passed all the legislation it requires to start intrastate i-poker.

2. They just completed the regulations this month. They are now working on the technical specifications, and are starting to process applications for a license. I would guess 3-6 months before the first licenses are issued.

3. Expect live sites by 3rd quarter 2012, or 4th quarter on the outside.

4. CA will probably take up their intrastate i-poker bill again in 1st quarter 2012. If it passes, they will likely take 12-18 months to implement it. They aren't going to want to pool with NV, but it may become a legal battle as to whether or not they can bar NV sites from accepting CA players (and vice versa).

[travz21]

Who cares about intrastate poker. The player pools would be too small. When will people be able to play on PokerStars again? And does this mean PartyPoker can come back?

[grimReaper]

Who cares about intrastate poker. The player pools would be too small. When will people be able to play on PokerStars again? And does this mean PartyPoker can come back?

Unsure about PS, they made an agreement to never serve US players. They could probably come back in some weird way like a casino partnering with them.

I think Party is a possibility.