As He Nears Retirement, Sen. Harry Reid's Stance On Online Poker Gets Even More ConfusingPowerful Politician Might Help Adelson Ban Some Online Gaming |
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Poker players in the United States looking for regulated online poker to become widespread in the country might not have a friend anymore in soon-to-be-retiring Congressman Harry Reid (D-NV). The Senator’s position on regulated online poker has been perplexing over the past half-year or so, and it was ratcheted up another level just days ago.
According to VegasInc, Reid’s comments in a radio interview last week indicated that he might not be for regulated online poker anywhere, and thus isn’t really as interested as he once was for a carve-out for online poker in a proposed federal online gambling ban, one that could become more watered-down as time goes on. The proposed bill, the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), already has numerous exemptions for certain online betting, but not for poker, which makes it largely an anti-online poker bill, but also unfavorable to other online casino games like blackjack.
It looks like Reid might not be an online poker ally these days.
“Well, we will see what the [RAWA] legislation does — we will see what the House does,” Reid said when asked if he supported Adelson’s RAWA efforts. “But I think, for the state of Nevada, online gaming is not the direction we should go.”
Nevada has online gaming in the form of peer-to-peer online poker, sharing liquidity with the state of Delaware, as well as closed-circuit mobile sports betting, the latter of which would get a RAWA carve-out. Adelson’s casino business is involved with mobile sports betting.
“If there is a chance to [legalize] poker, I will do that, but I am not for the Wire Act,” Reid said last year, showing that he was open to online poker back then.
The 2011 DoJ re-interpretation of the Wire Act allowed for states to regulate online poker.
In years past, Reid was actually working on federal legislation to establish a nationwide online poker industry. The 75-year-old’s efforts never panned out.
“Sen. Reid has been a vocal supporter of Internet poker and the regulation of Internet poker, and I certainly hope that position has not changed,” The PPA’s John Pappas told VegasInc.
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