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A Blog About Online Gaming and Entertainment Regulations

As Ifrah Law celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, we are pleased with the recent legal breakthroughs that have the potential to bring online interactive gaming into the U.S. mainstream, where it can create jobs and offer a secure, exciting experience for adults nationwide. For our firm’s founder, Jeff Ifrah, a passion for advancing online gaming was kindled in 1999, when as a member of a BigLaw firm he began representing clients who sought to build online gaming businesses in the United States. Throughout the next decade, Jeff was among a handful of litigators who fought to establish precedent in this nascent area of law. His belief in the internet’s capacity to provide a satisfying, virtual gaming experience grew ever-stronger, even though prospects for favorable federal legislation dimmed in 2006 (with UIGEA’s passage) and suffered severe blows in 2010 (when efforts to pass a federal regulatory scheme failed). By 2009, Jeff had formed a new law firm in Washington, D.C., and intensified his efforts to build the case for legalization... Read more
Ifrah Law’s “The Definitive Guide to Online Gaming and Betting in the U.S.” is Available for Download
October 8, 2019

Ifrah Law’s “The Definitive Guide to Online Gaming and Betting in the U.S.” is Available for Download

By: Jeff Ifrah, Steven Eichorn, Whitney Fore, Andrew Silver and George Calhoun

Complimentary eBook offers a comprehensive overview of the rapidly evolving U.S. online gaming and betting industry. “The Definitive Guide to Online Gaming and Betting in the U.S.” is now available – at no cost – as a downloadable eBook from Ifrah Law, which has been forging the legal framework for the online gaming industry for… Read More

Will Legalized Sports Betting Save NFL Television?
September 27, 2019

Will Legalized Sports Betting Save NFL Television?

By: Jeffrey Hamlin

The growth of proposition and in-play sports betting may be just what the NFL needs to sustain a revived interest in televised games. From 2016 to 2018, the NFL experienced a two-year ratings slump when viewership decreased by 17%. Theories abound as to why ratings fell. Some point out that traditional television viewership was (and… Read More

The inability to secure banking services has created enormous difficulties for state level, legal cannabis industries.  Eleven states and the District of Columbia have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, and a majority of states also have legal medical marijuana programs. Nonetheless, “marihuana” remains a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act and its… Read More

North Carolina on the Verge of Legal Sports Betting
July 29, 2019

North Carolina on the Verge of Legal Sports Betting

By: George Calhoun

In April, I spoke to the North Carolina Bar Association concerning the future of sports betting in the state.  At the time, a bill to legalize sports betting was making its way through the legislative process.  Last week, the North Carolina legislature finally passed a bill authorizing sports wagering at the state’s two Eastern Band… Read More

On June 3, 2019, Judge Paul Barbadoro of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire issued a 60-page opinion holding that the Wire Act is limited to sports gambling.  Judge Barbadoro’s opinion resolved litigation between the New Hampshire Lottery Commission, its service provider (NeoPollard), and the Department of Justice (DOJ), over… Read More

Professional sports as an industry has a money problem. Game attendance across sports has been on the decline in recent years. Viewership has been on a downward trajectory as has traditional advertising. But two superheroes have appeared on the horizon to help turn things around. And if they team up, Avengers-style, they could benefit all… Read More

DOJ High-Wire Act
April 29, 2019

DOJ High-Wire Act

By: James Trusty and Ifrah Law

Heavyweight parties are slugging it out in a lawsuit in the Granite State, and Ifrah Law is taking a lead role in protecting the interests of America’s rapidly growing online gaming industry.  The New Hampshire civil case comes on the heels of the Department of Justice (DOJ) releasing an interpretation of the federal Wire Act… Read More

(This post was originally published on 1/15/2019 and updated on 4/8/2019) On Jan. 14, 2019, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion reversing its 2011 position on the Wire Act and sports betting, contradicting not just itself but decisions by at least two District Courts and dicta by the U.S. Supreme… Read More