This week, word circulated around the Web that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was set to introduce a bill legalizing and regulating online poker in the United States. From the Associated Press to the Wall Street Journal, the Internet Poker Act of 2010 gained a considerable amount of mainstream media attention. Read more.
Among those media outlets to take a jab at Reid was the Huffington Post. An article posted on Friday read in part, “So many priorities, and so little seriousness. And now you find out that during this very tiny window to act, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has asked his staff to work on a bill that would legalize online poker. What the what, now?” The Huffington Post pointed out that only licensed brick-and-mortar gaming establishments would be able to provide internet poker for the first two years under Reid’s measure.
Even a blog on the website of Time Magazine tackled the online poker story. The Time Magazine entry pointed out how the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed during the final moments of the 2006 Congressional session. It added, “It would be interesting to see whether the measure would resonate with the GOP’s libertarian wing – which should ideologically support a measure that gives citizens the freedom to gamble online – or others open to the idea of using additional sin taxes to help close yawning state and federal budget gaps.”
Appearing on the front page of Yahoo late Friday night was an Associated Press piece that pointed out several of Reid’s major campaign contributors: “MGM Resorts International, through its employees and political action committee, donated $192,000 to his campaign, the most of any single company, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Meanwhile, employees and the PAC at Harrah’s Entertainment chipped in an additional $83,100. Harrah’s recently changed its name to Caesars Entertainment Corp.”
The cavalcade of articles included a Bloomberg piece affectionately entitled “Senate Accused of Secret Plan to Legalize U.S. Online Gambling.” The article appeared on Thursday following the release of a letter submitted by three Republican lawmakers: Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Dave Camp (R-MI), and Lamar Smith (R-TX). The letter, which was targeted at the pending Web poker legislation, read in part, “Creating a federal right to gamble that has never existed in our country’s history and imposing an unprecedented new tax regime on such activity require careful deliberation, not backroom deals.”
Poker News Daily received a copy of the 57-page bill, which states that existing online poker sites cannot sell their “assets” to a licensed outfit. In essence, it appears that sites servicing the market like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker could essentially be shut out for two years. Then, the bill explains, “After two years from the date of first license… the Secretary may issue regulations expanding the range of licensees beyond those listed… if the Secretary makes a determination.”
We’ll keep you posted right here on Poker News Daily. In the meantime, check out a draft of Reid’s Internet Poker Act of 2010.
