What's new
Streak Gaming Online Gambling Forum

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

MGM’s Murren blasts DOJ’s Wire Act revision as ‘perplexing’ and ‘unenforceable’

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

vixen777

Owner
Staff member
Joined
Jan 14, 2008
Messages
61,181
SOURCE FULL STORY

Murren’s comments – the most strongly-worded public statement made by a casino industry official on the Wire Act changes – came toward the end of the company’s fourth quarter earnings conference call.

Union Gaming Group analyst John DeCree asked Murren his thoughts about the new Wire Act interpretation, which erased a 2011 Justice Department opinion that helped create online gaming operations in the U.S. and allowed for other gaming industry technology advances.

“This latest missive from the DOJ is perplexing is an understatement,” Murren said. “It’s just, we think, an absurdly poorly written and unenforceable opinion, and I don’t think anyone in the industry, the gaming industry, the Sports Betting industry, feels any differently.”

For now, it’s unclear how the new Wire Act interpretation will ultimately impact gaming operations throughout the country. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein issued a memorandum in January delaying implementation of the opinion for 90 days while the Justice Department decides how it will handle any Wire Act prosecutions.

Murren’s sentiments mirrored those of multiple law firms with specialized gaming practices have weighed in. Some believe the new opinion is over-reaching and could wipe out many of the technological advancements utilized in the last seven years: any situation, for instance, where gaming information is transmitted over the Internet.

Some activities that could be outlawed under the ban, according to experts, include online gambling activities in three states, the sale of lottery tickets over the Internet, and, potentially, mobile sports wagering, among other activities.

“If reads as words, it would mean that Powerball, as it exists in 44 states in the U.S., isn’t legal anymore,” Murren said.

The revision to the Wire Act was pushed by lobbyists for Las Vegas Sands Corp., and company Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.
 

Top