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Conviction by Clickwrap?
FEATURED
May 20, 2026
Conviction by Clickwrap?
By: Robert Ward
“Terms and conditions” are ubiquitous. They appear on baseball tickets,[1] in air conditioning repair agreements,[2] and, of course, on essentially every website we visit on a daily basis. By now, as the Seventh Circuit has put it, reasonable consumers “understand there will be terms and conditions associated with using a website.”[3] When disputes about terms and conditions are at issue in court, they often arise in the context of a consumer claim. A customer sues a website operator for, say, violating state privacy law. The operator responds by pointing out that the customer agreed to resolve disputes in arbitration, not in court. The customer opposes, arguing, for example, that they never agreed to arbitrate because the sign-up screen was too…
Cold Water on Insider Trading Fears: Prediction Markets Miss the 2026 NFL Draft
April 29, 2026
Cold Water on Insider Trading Fears: Prediction Markets Miss the 2026 NFL Draft
By: John Mikuta
From April 23 to April 25, the National Football League (“NFL”) held its annual player selection draft. Over 800,000 fans gathered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to watch Commissioner Roger Goodell announce the picks live, with millions more watching on TV and other digital platforms.[1] But the NFL Draft is not just a spectator event—both traditional sportsbooks and prediction-market platforms allowed customers to risk money predicting which…
After Ciminelli: Are the Feds Betting Too Big on Wire Fraud?
April 23, 2026
After Ciminelli: Are the Feds Betting Too Big on Wire Fraud?
By: Abbey Block
Can a technical violation of a website’s terms and conditions constitute a violation of the federal wire fraud statute? A federal court will soon decide just how broadly the statute may sweep, and whether all such forms of potentially dishonest conduct are subject to such stringent criminalization. On Monday, all eyes will be on the District Court for the Eastern District of New York when…
YouTube Fills Federal Policing Void on Gambling
March 17, 2025
YouTube Fills Federal Policing Void on Gambling
By: Sara Dalsheim
The ultimate inhibitor of the regulated gambling industry is the illegal ever-present offshore market. The regulated industry has been consistently asking for assistance from law enforcement to assist them in stamping out the illegal market – that, unlike the regulated industry, is not required to abide by any of the mechanisms that protect consumers. The federal government has failed to answer the call, so the…
Seismic Shift on Lottery Courier Services in Texas
February 25, 2025
Seismic Shift on Lottery Courier Services in Texas
By: Jeffrey Hamlin
On Monday, February 24, the Texas Lottery Commission’s Executive Director, Ryan Mindell, announced that the Commission was exercising its discretionary authority under the State Lottery Act to keep the Texas Lottery honest, secure, and fair “by prohibiting lottery ticket courier services,” effective immediately. The Commission plans to give effect to the prohibition through administrative adjudication and notice-and-comment rulemaking. Mindell conveyed the news in a Policy…
The Gambling Industry’s Regulatory Lessons for Cryptocurrency
February 24, 2025
The Gambling Industry’s Regulatory Lessons for Cryptocurrency
By: Sara Dalsheim
While most of American population has mixed feelings on the results of the 2024 election; the cryptocurrency (“crypto”) industry does not. Crypto companies made up one-third of all direct corporate contributions to political action committees, and it resulted in 85% of all winning congressional candidates being supporters of the crypto industry. So, what does the win mean? Likely, a clear regulatory authority and rules over…
Crypto’s Gamble Pays Off: SEC Enforcement Stalls Under Trump Administration
February 21, 2025
Crypto’s Gamble Pays Off: SEC Enforcement Stalls Under Trump Administration
By: Jake Gray
The cryptocurrency industry’s political bet on Trump appears to be paying early dividends in his administration’s first month. The Securities Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) rapid pivot–reorganizing its enforcement units and pausing major crypto litigation–signals a dramatic shift in the agency’s approach to digital asset regulation. In the past, we have analyzed several enforcement actions by the SEC against cryptocurrency companies that issued their own tokens. Our…
The Election Betting Experiment: Will Congress Rebottle This Genie?
January 8, 2025
The Election Betting Experiment: Will Congress Rebottle This Genie?
By: Jake Gray
Just this fall, Americans in all 50 states were able to put their money where they mouth was on the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election—what many news outlets call, and even one platform itself has called, election betting. Betting, notably, is not legal in all 50 states. Before the Supreme Court’s ruling, sports betting was largely prohibited nationwide under PASPA, with only Nevada and…
