Lottery officials in New Hampshire have postponed the debut of the state’s online casino until August in order to give state leaders time to be educated on the system.
Lottery income in New Hampshire has fallen about $7 million short of the expected amount of $75 million which resulted in the Internet gaming being devised by lottery executives in order to help fill the gap between the projected and realized revenues by the state.
Despite the fact that the UIGEA bars payments to online gambling sites because US Department of Justice bans online gambling the New Hampshire plan avoided entanglement with the UIGEA block of payment processing to Internet casinos by providing land-based payment centers which give access to players at online gambling sites. Players will purchase tickets at lottery centers that will carry access codes which can be used by players to play for the funded amount online.
New Hampshire lottery executive director, Charlie McIntyre, told the Nashua Telegraph that “The Lottery is going to use the down time to educate state leaders about the new interactive game and its place in our portfolio of products.”
Although the federal government has stated that all forms of online gambling is illegal, it has not said anything about the New Hampshire plan and it is possible that the DOJ will ignore the developments because this venture involves the state government.