On April 10, 2013, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed an indictment against 34 individuals and 23 companies for their involvement with online sports wagers. According to the indictment, Legendz Sports, operated Internet websites and telephone gaming facilities physically located in Panama City, Panama. Legendz Sports took wagers exclusively from residents of the United States using 22 domain names.

The federal grand jury charged the defendants with violating the Federal Wire Act (18 U.S.C. § 1084), Interstate Travel in Aid of a Racketeering Enterprise (18 U.S.C. §1952), Operation of an Illegal Gambling Business (18 U.S.C. § 1955) and Money Laundering (18 U.S.C. §§ 1956–57).

The named defendants include executive staff, agents, runners and bookies of various operations of Legendz Sports, as well as any companies that were “used to facilitate” the unlawful gaming operations, including credit card and ACH processing companies and investment advisors.

Among other things, the federal government seeks criminal penalties and forfeiture of $1 billion in traceable assets of the defendants. The indictment constitutes one of the biggest related to online gaming since the indictments of online poker giants, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Cereus, on April 15, 2011.

Snell & Wilmer’s gaming practice encompasses representation on substantive legal and regulatory gaming issues on a national basis.