The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is not wasting any time in enforcing its powers to stop online gambling operators from offering interstate wagering services. The DOJ recently surprised online gambling operators by claiming that the Wire Act had been misinterpreted which allowed operators to set up online shared liquidity pools.
The DOJ announced earlier in the week that it would look to stop shared liquidity arrangements and has now issued a 90 day deadline by which operators have to stop all shared offerings.
The 90 day deadline is really short notice for online gambling operators to wind up their shared services. Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware all have interstate shared liquidity arrangements which were carried out in order to boost their respective online poker markets who were struggling individually to survive.
The memo issued by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will allow iGaming operators to continue to offer online gaming services but only within their licensed state borders. A number of online lottery operators will also be impacted by this decision. Gaming operators have invested a lot of resources in both time and money to modify their online gaming software and prepare for interstate liquidity.
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The move has helped their online gambling offerings to a certain extent. However, all that will now be undone due to the memo from the DOJ. Operators will once again have to fork out cash to modify their online software and prevent out of state players from accessing their services.
However, online gaming operators are not queuing up to modify their software and comply with the DOJ order. They will look to fight back and take the legal route to file an appeal, get an extension to the 90 day order and hopefully get the DOJ to reverse its recent decision.
iGaming operators will not be the only ones fighting back as the Nevada Gaming Control Board is also considering its legal options. One can also expect the gaming boards in Delaware and New Jersey to follow suit.
The one person who will be pleased with this decision will be gambling tycoon Sheldon Adelson. The Chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp had launched his Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling in an effort to get the Wire Act to be changed and stop online gambling legalization.
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