Senator Harry Reid Pushes Legalization of Online Poker

In another attempt to pay back constituencies that helped him win re-election in November, Nevada Senator and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has proposed legislation legalizing online poker.

Staffers for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are circulating a bill to legalize poker playing on the Internet that’s backed by large casino interests.

The Nevada casino companies pushing the measure were among the Democrat’s biggest donors during his fierce re-election fight. They argue the bill would provide consumer protection for poker players and would provide some tax revenue for federal and state governments.

On Wednesday, three Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Mr. Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) opposing any efforts to pass Internet poker legislation during the lame-duck session.

“Congress should not take advantage of the young, the weak and the vulnerable in the name of new revenues to cover more government spending,” Rep. Spencer Bachus (R., Ala.), the ranking Republican member of the House Financial Services Committee and others wrote.

Dingy Harry Reid is paying back Harrah’s, now Caesar’s Entertainment, who mounted a massive GOTV effort during his November campaign. Caesar’s owns the World Series of Poker brand and already has online real money poker sites in Europe and Canada. They are poised to enter the American market should enabling legislation be enacted.

Alan Feldman, a spokesman for MGM Resorts International, a large Las Vegas-based casino company, said he hoped such a bill had a possibility of rushing through in the next few weeks. “A lot of things happen in this kind of time frame,” he said.

Internet gambling has been a top priority for the Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment Corp., which recently changed its name from Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. and is the largest casino company in the world by revenue. The company owns the popular World Series of Poker brand that it hopes to parlay into online success to make up for anemic growth in its U.S. casino markets.

So, what will the proposed bill do?

1. Overturn UIGEA.

2. Provide legislation for poker-only.

3. Limit legal internet gaming to “allow only existing casinos, horse tracks and slot-machine makers to operate online poker websites for the first two years after the bill passes.”  It’s unclear what they are proposing to do with Full Tilt, Poker Stars, Ultimate Bet and the like “rogue” offshore sites during the time-out.

4. Outsource oversight of internet gambling to the *state* government.

5. Earmark revenue on wager to both state and federal governments.

BJ Nemeth poker photographer extraordinaire has his analysis here and raises the obligatory questions, particularly about the existing off-shore poker sites, where all Americans play illegally.

I think the odds of this bill passing are remote since the Democrats are playing games with the Bush era tax rates and no Senate action will proceed until this issue is resolved.

Could this legislation be rolled into the continuing resolution which is necessary to continue the government?

Possibly as a compromise provision, especially if Harry Reid gives up something like the DREAM Act. But, the DREAM Act is another pay back from Reid to another Nevada constituency which was instrumental in his re-election – the Latinos.

So, stay tuned…..