In an email sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Senator Jon Kyl, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich communicated a new interpretation of the Wire Act of 1961. The Department of Justice long had the opinion that the Wire Act applied to online poker. According to today's developments, this is no longer the case.

The decision came from a question from two state lotteries that were looking to process payments for lottery tickets across state lines. The Illinois and New York State Lotteries asked the Justice Department for clarification on whether they could transmit payment information to processors in other states. The decision, handed down in September but only publicly released today, stated that lotteries could in fact transmit payment information across state lines. That is because this information was not considered to violate the Wire Act as the Wire Act only applies to sports gambling and contests.

While the effect on existing offshore online poker rooms will likely be negligible, the main point of celebration for U.S. online poker players is that this means that once states pass online poker regulations they will be free to network their online poker rooms. This will add much needed liquidity to small states that decide to legalize and regulate online poker within their borders. Just yesterday, Nevada legalized online poker for their residents. Once other states legalize online poker as well, Nevada would be able to enter into partnerships with other states without interference from the federal government.

This news broke at the end of business on the Friday before Christmas. There is likely to be more news on this topic in the coming weeks. There are quite a few legal opinions on what this means to the online poker industry. After the holidays we hope to receive more clarification as to what today's Department of Justice opinion change means to existing online poker rooms as well as future state regulated online poker.