A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a U.S. Justice Department legal opinion that presented a threat to online gambling, including state-run lottery games, ruling that there was a “lack of coherence” in the Trump administration’s broad interpretation of a federal law concerning internet wagers.

At issue for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit was an opinion the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel issued in 2018 about the scope of the Wire Act, a 1960 law that regulates interstate gambling. The Justice Department determined in the opinion that the law broadly prohibited internet wagers, reversing a 2011 opinion in which the office of legal counsel found that the Wire Act applied only to online sports betting.

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