"In case you missed it – and you may have because of the press of the holidays – the U.S. Justice Department issued an opinion Dec. 23 that opens the door for legalized Internet gambling, except on sports.

California attorney I. Nelson Rose, who specializes in gambling law and runs the website www.GamblingAndTheLaw.com, says the Justice Department “declared, perhaps uninten-tionally, that almost every form of intrastate Internet gambling is legal under federal law and so may be games played interstate and even internationally.”

Tribes, like the state, are in the early stages of trying to figure out what the Justice Department ruling could mean for them and what legal grounds they could have to challenge state-sponsored Internet gambling.

When it comes to virtual casinos on the Internet, it seems only tribes could offer them to residents of New Mexico under the revenue-sharing agreements with the state.

Rose, the gambling law attorney, says the Justice Department opinion means, “There is little stopping tribes from offering most forms of gambling online.”"

Get the Story:
Thomas Cole: Online Gambling Door Open For States (The Albuquerque Journal 1/25)