The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is trying to salvage a losing hand by claiming that its new Wire Act opinion has nothing to do with state lotteries.

On Monday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein filed a reply brief in the DOJ’s lawsuit versus the New Hampshire Lottery Commission (NHLC), which is challenging the DOJ’s new Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion that the 1961 Wire Act applies to other forms of online gambling other than sports betting if any data crosses state lines.

The gist of the OLC’s new opinion is that the Wire Act bars pretty much all forms of interstate gambling other than horse racing. This has state lotteries such as the NHLC concerned over the future of their hugely lucrative interstate products such as Powerball, while intrastate online gambling operators fear the fact that their data – be it actual gambling data or payment processing info – is occasionally routed out of state, as is most internet traffic.

On Monday, the DOJ issued a memo saying its new opinion never intended to target state lotteries or their vendors and the feds are currently “reviewing” that question. The DOJ further promised that, if its review determines that lotteries do fall under the Wire Act’s scope, the DOJ would give lotteries another 90 days in which to bring their operations into compliance.