The current battle over online gaming and poker in the United States is bringing out important political figures on both sides of the issue. What happens, however, if a person wanted to be with one side and was either turned down or better suitors were found? This is the question that must be asked of former California Representative Mary Bono, the chairman of and one of the power players behind the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection (C4COP).
According to Jon Ralston at the Ralston Report, Bono was a free agent a few months ago as the Sheldon Adelson-led Coalition to Stop Online Gambling (CSIG) began to ramp up their efforts in both the U. S. Congress and state-by-state battles. Ralston alleges (and states he has the e-mails to back it up) that, in January, Bono e-mailed a key supporter of Adelson, Las Vegas Sands Corporation spokesman Ron Reese. In that e-mail, Bono allegedly attaches an article regarding the American Gaming Association’s steps to start the C4COP.
“In those e-mails I obtained (Ralston doesn’t indicate where they came from), Bono clearly was angling for a contract with the folks she says now are so misguided,” Ralston states. He points out the above indicated e-mail, sent January 6 to Reese, giving salutations regarding the start of a New Year and including the line, “Please let me know if we can look at working with you soon on this issue.” Ralston says that further e-mail contact set up a meeting in Washington, D. C., between Bono and Andy Abboud, the vice president of Government Relations and Community Development with the LVSC, which never occurred. Soon afterwards, the CSIG hired former New York Governor George Pataki, former Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb.
Ralston was able to attribute a quote to Abboud that is potentially damning to Bono. “It was clear in our dialogue with Mary Bono and her team that they were going to go to the highest and fastest bidder,” Ralston quotes Abboud. “She was selling her access as a former member (of Congress).” Instead of teaming with the CSIG, Bono would take a seat with the C4COP in February, stating, “I made a decision to chair the C4COP because I believe that an online gaming ban is bad public policy,” which Ralston finds to be hypocritical.
C4COP spokeswoman Kristen Hawn has stepped up in defense of Bono to Ralston. “She’s known Ron and those guys (apparently the LVSC personnel) for years,” Hawn is quoted. “She was up front about looking closely at both sides of the issue before deciding how to proceed.” Ralston, however, isn’t buying it. “Yes, I’m sure that’s what happened,” is how he ends his report.
If Ralston’s investigation is true, it wouldn’t be the only case of a major player in the online gaming and poker wars playing both sides of the issue. As Governor of New York from 1995 through 2006, Pataki expanded gaming throughout the Empire State, eventually allowing for Indian casinos and supporting private casino operations, expanded video lotteries, online wagering for the state’s horse racing facilities and several other aspects of gambling. It wasn’t until he joined forces with Adelson’s CSIG earlier this year, however, that he reversed his course.
In an op/ed on The Hill, Pataki completely changed his tune regarding the issue of online gaming. “Congress needs to act now to restore the long-standing interpretation of the Wire Act and put up a firewall to guard against offshored illegal internet casinos up and running already,” he wrote. “We must act now, otherwise internet gambling will be unleashed nationwide.”
Bono took over California’s 44th District seat in 1998, following the death of her husband, singer Sonny Bono. She would serve the 44th and 45th Districts until January 2013, when she left office following her loss in the Republican primaries in 2012 to Dr. Raul Ruiz. Ruiz, in turn, was defeated by Democrat John Campbell, who is currently serving in the U. S. House of Representatives.
If Bono was simply going to the highest bidder, the question has to be asked…Is this the type of person that the online poker world wants to have leading its biggest fight?