When the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) bill was not added to the recent omnibus spending bill in the final days of Congress’s lame duck session, we in the poker community breathed a sigh of relief. We were staring at the real possibility of the UIGEA all over again, but fortunately, nothing happened. At the same time, though, we were warned not to let our guards down, as RAWA would likely rear Sheldon Adelson’s ugly head in 2015 when Republicans control both chambers of Congress.
And here…we…go….
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Senator Harry Reid, who will be relinquishing his position as the Senate Majority Leader when the Democrats are no longer the majority in the Senate, has said that he is in favor of a ban on internet gambling. This is the same Senator Harry Reid whose state, Nevada, is the world’s gambling hub. Six of Nevada’s top ten employers are casinos, all of whom except the Wynn look like they would welcome internet gaming (and Steve Wynn, while against online gambling, is not particularly outspoken about it). This is the same Senator Harry Reid who for years has supported online poker and has worked to try to get legalization bills introduced. This is the same Senator Harry Reid who was once the chair of the Nevada Gaming Commission.
But now, not so much. Suddenly, he has a different opinion, telling the Review-Journal, “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.”
So what has changed? Most likely, it is Reid’s fear for his job security. Up for re-election in 2016, the 74-year old, he may face a stiff challenge for his Senate seat from current Republican Nevada Governor, Brian Sandoval. The most ardent opponent of online gambling and the force behind RAWA is Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, who has contributed millions upon millions upon millions of dollars to Republican campaigns in recent years. There have been rumors that in exchange for Reid’s support in getting RAWA inserted into the omnibus spending bill (we now know that it didn’t get in there), Adelson would have been willing to not contribute, or at least contribute minimally, to Sandoval’s 2016 campaign, in effect giving a boost to Reid. It makes sense that even though RAWA did not sneak through this year, that agreement, if it exists, could still be on the table when Congress is back in session in 2015.
For his part, Reid denied any deal with Adelson, saying, “Sheldon Adelson and I have been friends for a long time but on politics he and I don’t agree, so we don’t do politics. I’m glad he joined my position (on Internet gambling), but no, there was nothing.”
So now this anti-online gambling position is Reid’s not Adelson. Sounds accurate.
Reid still said that he would try to work for a carveout for online poker, but a bill that simply legalizes poker alone would never work. He told the Review-Journal that the way poker would get legalized on the federal level would be to first have a bill passed that would ban internet gambling on the whole and then provide an exemption for poker.
