Oral arguments in the case against Ajit Pai’s net neutrality repeal are scheduled for Friday morning, and net neutrality advocates are confident that they will be victorious. The groups that sued the Federal Communications Commission to reverse the repeal argue that Pai offered insufficient legal justification for deregulating the broadband industry. The Obama-era net neutrality rules, which were upheld in court in 2016, relied on the FCC’s Title II authority over telecommunications services. When it eliminated the net neutrality rules, Pai’s FCC argued that broadband is not a telecommunications service and that it should be treated instead as a lightly…

The American gaming industry was thrown for a loop recently by the new DOJ sports betting decision. Congress was not vague in its intent when it enacted the Wire Act in 1961. The law, developed and supported by then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy, was never meant to establish new prohibitions on any type of gambling. Rather, it was designed to provide federal enforcement support for illegal interstate sports gambling or, as a House Judiciary report in 1961 put it, to “assist the various States and the District of Columbia in the enforcement of their laws pertaining to gambling, bookmaking, and like…

Is Bitcoin Cash dead or dying? The Bitcoin hardfork was touted to be the revelation of the crypto-world and a redefinition of Bitcoin itself, but 18 months later, it has fallen in the ranks. Cobra, a pseudonym for the infamous co-founder of Bitcoin.org and Bitcointalk.org has stated that Bitcoin Cash is worthless. In a tweet posted on January 18, Cobra stated that Bitcoin Cash is dead, not dying. Due to a lack of vision and purpose, the coin’s value will drop to $0 in a matter of years. Some users stated that their skepticism regarding Bitcoin Cash began after the November…

Pennsylvania gaming regulators are warning their online licensees to ensure their operations are compliant with the new US Department of Justice opinion on the 1961 Wire Act. On Friday, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) issued a memo to its online gambling licensees – none of whom have actually been cleared to launch their local sites – giving them 30 days in which to clarify how their individual operations might be affected by the DOJ’s new view on the Wire Act. On Monday, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel made public a new legal opinion that the 1961 Wire Act…

Governor Charlie Baker introduced a new proposal on Thursday that aims to legalize Massachusetts sports betting, and tax those bets on professional sports both online and at casinos. The law would allow other entities to be licensed to offer the modality as well. Baker detailed that he would file legislation to allow the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) to license the three casino operators in the state to offer on-site and online sports betting. This legislation would also pave the way for other operators, such as daily fantasy sports (DFS) entities to be licensed for sports betting. “Our legislation puts forth…

Is online gambling illegal even in states where it’s regulated? I guess we’ll see… as the Department of Justice has issued a replacement for its 2011 opinion which said that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting. The new opinion now makes the Wire Act applicable to any form of gambling that crosses state lines, including online gambling and online lottery. Several states have legalized online gambling in the wake of the 2011 opinion, including New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Sports betting and online sports gambling have also cropped up in many states in the past year in…