Conservative group sues DOJ over refusal to hand over Wire Act opinion documents

Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed a federal lawsuit seeking documents relating to the US Department of Justice’s revised opinion on the scope of the Wire Act.

In 2011, the DOJ surprised the gaming industry by issuing an opinion that the 1961 Wire Act applied only to sports betting. The opinion, which was dumped on an unsuspecting public two days before Christmas, paved the way for the intrastate online gambling markets currently operating in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware.

The opinion was widely regarded as correct but was nonetheless controversial in certain circles. Case in point: the erroneously titled Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), the Sheldon Adelson-backed legislation that seeks a return to the good old days when the DOJ believed the Wire Act prevented virtually every form of US online betting save horseracing and on-premise mobile gaming offered by some US casinos (including Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands).

Republicans who support RAWA made the DOJ’s 2011 opinion a sticking point in holding up the nomination of current US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who held her ground by stating that she was unlikely to reverse that opinion.