6: How Does The Wire Act Effect Payment Providers → Mark Hichar from Greenberg Traurig

Mark Hichar focuses his practice on the gaming industry, and brings to each project over 25 years of experience working for gaming operators, system suppliers, game developers, and gaming licensees. Mark has worked as both inside and outside counsel to gaming companies, and understands the need to provide clear, practical, and actionable advice. Mark has particularly deep experience working with operators of casinos and lottery systems, and entities licensed by or contracted with domestic or foreign government gaming regulatory bodies. Working with clients of all sizes, Mark has advised and documented a variety of cross-border transactions and lottery privatizations, and has structured joint ventures to do business in countries including China, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Africa, and Taiwan.

Topics discussed:

• The Wire Act applies to all types of betting, including sports
• The effect on payment providers, perhaps as aider and abettor
• If you are assisting in aiding and abetting then payment processors could possibly be considered as aiding
• The Wire Act was passed in 1961 to go after organized crime
• The Wire Act does not carve out for state authorized gambling
• Technology have advanced significantly since 1961 and the passing of The Wire Act
• Changes in how we communicate compared to 1961
• The ideal solution is legislative
• New Hampshire and clarifying what The Wire Act means in June 2019
• Payment providers should be watching cautiously — in regard to the possibility of aiding and abetting
• Does the Wire Act cover intermediate routing — and how do you identify where that communication goes?
• Continued expansion will continue throughout the country

NOTES

Mark Hichar

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