US States React to Wire Act Reinterpretation

After the US Department of Justice (DoJ) admitted that the 1961 Wire Act is only applicable to sports betting and thus not poker, casino, lottery or bingo gambling, many US states have kicked their efforts to open up their online gambling markets into overdrive.

Kentucky, for instance, is poised to begin offering some form of legalised online gambling. As proof of this, late last week Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced that he will introduce a simple constitutional amendment into the Senate this week, enabling legislation that will facilitate online gambling in the state.

Governor Beshear on Online Gambling in Kentucky

Said Beshear on the issue of online gambling in Kentucky, 'People don't want to look at a 14-page amendment to determine whether they are going to vote on it [online gambling regulation] or not. We need a fairly simple approach to this.' The governor also alluded to the fact that his measure is designed to allow lawmakers to work on specific details on an ongoing basis.

Through his comments and his proposed online gambling measure, the Kentucky governor has made it very clear that he wants to see online gambling legalised in the state in the near future, even admitting that he aims to 'aggressively pursue' regulated online gaming in the next legislative session, which is scheduled to start tomorrow (Tuesday, January 3).

Like the leaders of most countries around the world that have legalised and regulated online gambling, Governor Beshear recognises that his state is losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars of taxable online gambling revenues each year, revenues that could help top up Kentucky's fast-emptying coffers affected by the nation's poor economic climate.

Another US state seemingly eager to hop aboard the online gambling bandwagon now that the 1961 Wire Act has been rendered toothless, is California. Following the DoJ announcement, California State Lottery officials announced that they will begin investigating the possibility of selling online lotto tickets.

Could Open Up Online Lottery Sales in California

However, newly appointed California State Lottery director Robert O'Neill was cautious in his statement to the press: 'It does open up a major potential channel for [online] lottery sales in California, but right now it's just a potential channel.' Behind the scenes, however, there is little doubt that O'Neill,and his counterparts in many other US states, are champing at the bit to regulate online gambling.