Reid: Online Gambling Ban Efforts Next YearNevada Senator Says He Still Wants A Carve-Out For Poker |
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Nevada Sen. Harry Reid said late last week that 2015 will feature continued discussion at the federal level on what to do about real-money online gambling in the United States.
Reid, who apparently was looking to cater to billionaire casino boss Sheldon Adelson, said that although the last-minute efforts this year failed, next year will be full of action, according to reporting from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“I think there will be efforts made to look at the Wire Act in a Republican-initiated Congress, yes I do,” Reid reportedly said. “I think there will be efforts made to get rid of the Wire Act.”
The Wire Act is the decades-old law that was re-interpreted by the DoJ in 2011, allowing for U.S. states to pursue intra-state online gambling industries, as long as it wasn’t sports betting. So far, only Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware have ventured into the space.
California (poker only) is looking to do so next year.
Reid added: “I think the proliferation of gambling on the Internet is not good for our country. I think it is an invitation to crime. I think it is hard to control for crime when you’ve got brick-and-mortar places, let alone something up in the sky someplace, and it is very bad for children.”
New Jersey and Delaware have house-banked casino games, while Nevada just has poker.
Now, Reid this month did appear willing to ban all forms of online gambling (including poker) in an omnibus spending bill, but he does actually want poker-only legislation at the federal level. Adelson wants everything banned, but he might have to settle for a poker carve-out if the federal government ever passes legislation on this issue. Still, action at the federal level is unlikely.
“If there is a chance to [legalize] poker, I will do that, but I am not for the Wire Act,” Reid added. In other words, he and Adelson are aligned to some extent.
To ban house-banked online gambling at the federal level would require discontinuing the industries in New Jersey and Delaware. Although those markets haven’t proved lucrative yet, it is safe to assume they would fight tooth and nail to prevent a federal ban. Look at what New Jersey is going through with the feds to try and get sports betting at its Atlantic City casinos. So, federal action on online gambling, at any point in time, appears drawing dead.
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