Monthly Archives: February 2019

New Hampshire sues DOJ over new Wire Act ruling

New Hampshire on Friday became the first state to legally challenge last month’s U.S. Department of Justice decision to revise the Federal Wire Act, filing a federal lawsuit that would halt enforcement of the opinion that could keep the state from selling lottery tickets online.Legal, Online Gambling, Technology, New Hampshire, Online Ticket Sales, Government, Lawsuit

France’s online gambling ops were record-setters in 2018

France’s online gambling revenue grew by one-quarter in 2018 but the country’s regulator says improvements are needed to ensure these gains continue.

This week, French regulatory authority ARJEL released its Q4 and FY18 reports on the performance of French-licensed online gambling operators. Bottom line: the market continues to post solid growth but “elements of fragility remain and we must not let our guard down.”

In the final three months of 2018, sports betting turnover rose 51% to €1.06b – a quarterly record since the regulated market’s 2010 launch – while betting revenue improved 32% to €215m. The number of weekly active bettors was up 39% to 546k.

Football wagering was up 54% to €663m in Q4, with basketball (€162.7m, +35%) and tennis (€111.4m, +70%) a distant second and third. The quarter’s biggest gainer in percentage terms was volleyball, which more than doubled its betting handle to €18.8m.

Gamble free or die: Wire Act view faces New Hampshire challenge

New Hampshire’s state lottery has filed a legal challenge of the US Department of Justice’s new opinion that the Wire Act’s scope isn’t limited to sports betting.

On Friday, the New Hampshire Lottery Commission (NHLC) and the state’s Attorney General Gordon McDonald filed a complaint in the US District Court for New Hampshire, naming the DOJ and newly appointed Attorney General William Barr as defendants.

The complaint challenges the DOJ’s recently issued opinion that the 1961 Wire Act applies to all forms of interstate gambling, which potentially jeopardizes all current and future intrastate online gambling and lottery operations.

The NHLC argues that the DOJ’s new opinion ignores “clear, binding precedents” on the scope of the Wire Act, not to mention the DOJ’s 2011 opinion that set the stage for the launch of intrastate online lottery, casino and poker products in a handful of states.