In the state of New York, it’s a Class A misdemeanor to run a game of chance where bets are placed in the state. However, it wasn’t the Wire Act that brought the online poker giants to their knees in 2011 it was the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a misdemeanor.

While the Wire Act doesn’t explicitly mention poker, the line “placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest” left it open for interpretation, as it was unclear what “contest” referred to. Like the government equivalent of Captain Planet, their powers combined to create an interpretation of the law that banned online gambling. It was made to prohibit gambling companies from knowingly accepting payments for wagers or bets violating an existing federal or state law. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed in 2006.

“Whoever being engaged in the business of betting or wagering knowingly uses a wire communication facility for the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest, or for the transmission of a wire communication which entitles the recipient to receive money or credit as a result of bets or wagers, or for information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”ĭespite this piece of legislation being over 50 years old at the time it was cited, it was one of the two pillars that propped up the lawsuits brought against online poker sites in the US. Here is the beginning of the text, which outlines what it sets out to do. The aim of this legislation was to make interstate gambling illegal, though the language of the Act is somewhat vague when looked at through a modern lens. The Interstate Wire Act (sometimes known as the Federal Wire Act) is a US law that was implemented in 1961, which prohibited certain types of gambling businesses within the US.

Is online poker gambling legal