Lottery operator IGT sues U.S. Justice Department over ambiguity on Wire Act
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State officials were not immediately clear on the decision’s fiscal fallout in Georgia, where the lottery transferred a record-setting $1.1 billion for pre-kindergarten and HOPE scholarship programs in 2018. The letter by Kemp and Carr said a ban on online lottery sales “would devastate the benefits provided to citizens in Georgia and across the nation through state lotteries.”
In addition to ruling in favor of the Lottery Commission, the court requested that the DOJ submit within 14 days a memorandum detailing its position on if the Wire Act should apply to states and the vendors they rely on to carry out lottery games. “We have an obligation to protect the revenues for the state, fund education for schools in New Hampshire,” Charlie McIntyre, the executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery, said after the hearing. “That is a lot of money.... Over the next biennium, you are talking $192 million.... It’s real money, so we have to protect it.”
A little-known company ('The Lottery Office' says it has been flooded with new customers over the past) is offering Aussies the chance to take part in AU$1 billion US Powerball draw despite a government crackdown.