According to http://www.indiancountry.com the Department of Justice has issued a opinion on approving online gambling and making it legal. The DoJ released a legal opinion stating. “The Wire act of 1961 prohibits online betting only for sporting events and contests not lotteries.” Indian tribes across the United States are looking to their specific state to pass legislation on the opinion. The only state to do so, thus far, is Nevada and the tribes are looking at this as no big deal. The tribes do not see this as a threat to traditional casinos because people look for the experience of being in a casino as well as the gambling. One of the biggest changes that this opinion would be bring is that free poker playing sites such as the ones run by the Morongo and Barona bands of mission Indians will have to start charging to make them legal. The opinion is being pushed to avoid something similar to when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1987 that the states has no jurisdiction over Indian gaming on reservations. The next year, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in order to maintain some level of control over Indian gaming. In addition, this opinion would mean nothing to the nations because there is already a law in congress that says states can have intra-state gaming. This act is the “Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, which basically makes is illegal to use wire transfers or credit cards for online gaming, but within the act is a paragraph that excludes states and tribes from the law.
