The Department of Justice does not want to fight the online gambling lawsuit brought by the fifteen states defending their right to regulate Internet betting. Now the DOJ has made a proactive move to try to avoid having to defend their actions in court… and to keep states under their thumb.

The Justice Department is now asking that the court throw out the lawsuit brought against them, using some creative legal maneuvering to try to wiggle off the hook. Also, another state has regulated online gambling… bringing the total to five.

The DOJ argues that just one clause of the language in t, which he online gambling lawsuit bans the interstate transmission of “information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest”, applies to sports betting. The others, it says, deliberately do not refer to “sporting events or contests” as they were designed to apply to all forms of gambling.

It also notes that changes from earlier drafts of the legislation suggest that while it may have originally been designed to cover sports betting only, it was later expanded. Furthermore, the DOJ argues that the concerns set out by the New Hampshire Lottery in its filing in February, relating to its First Amendment rights being infringed upon, are unfounded. The lottery argued that lawful, non-misleading information helpful in the placement of bets or wagers, such as advertisements, could be affected by the new Wire Act opinion.

However the DOJ denies this. Instead it states the clause in question – which bans “wire communication which entitles the recipient to receive money or credit . . . for information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers” – does not constitute a blanket prohibition on the interstate transmission of gambling-related information. It also denies that the new Wire Act opinion infringes on state rights (the Tenth Amendment), arguing that it becomes a matter for the federal government as it concerns interstate matters.

Despite this, the DOJ argues that should the court rule in favor of the plaintiff in the online gambling lawsuit, it should not issue nationwide relief to all states, which would effectively allow them to disregard the Wire Act opinion. As such, it requests the court grant the motion to dismiss, deny the plaintiffs’ motions for summary judgement and terminate the cases.