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Subsection (a) of Title 18 of the United States Code section 1084 ''Transmission of wagering information; penalties'' reads:
''Whoever being engaged in the business of betting or wagering knowingly uses a wire communication facility for the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest, or for the transmission of a wire communication which entitles the recipient to receive money or credit as a result of bets or wagers, or for information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.''<ref> [https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1084 "18 U.S. Code § 1084.Transmission of wagering information; penalties"], ''Cornell Law School''. Retrieved on 2020-02-11</ref>
The intention of the Federal Wire Act was not to target the casual sports bettor. Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Congressman Emanuel Celler enforced this notion during a debate regarding the Act in the House of Representatives: ''"This bill only gets after the bookmaker, the gambler who makes it his business to take bets or to lay off bets... It does not go after the causal gambler who bets $2 on a race. That type of transaction is not within the purvue of the statute"''
=== 2011: Department of Justice Formal Legal Opinion ===