Online gambling banning attempts will return next year

Online gambling banning attempts in the US through the Adelson-inspired Restoration of America’s Wire Act may have failed in this year’s Congressional session, but they will be back on the agenda in a Republican-controlled federal legislature next year…and the influential and veteran Nevada Senator Harry Reid will support the attempt in the hope that he can achieve carve-outs for online poker.

In an interview with the respected Las Vegas Review-Journal Friday, Reid revealed:

* Online gambling banning measures will again be introduced to Congress next year;

* He will support such a ban, but attempt to achieve a carve-out for online poker (Nevada has legalisaed online poker, along with Delaware and New Jersey);

* He agrees with land casino mogul Sheldon Adelson that online gambling in the United States should be banned, saying: “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.”

* Reid admitted that, had it been possible, he would have been prepared to try for a carve-out for online poker if the RAWA had made it through the House in the end-of-season lame duck session (it failed at committee stage);

* He is of the view – based on experience with previous attempts – that the only way legalised online poker will pass Congress is if it is coupled with legislation that prohibits other forms of online gaming;

* Reid admitted that he and Adelson had been long-time friends despite their commitment to different political parties, but he denied that he and Adelson were allies in seeking an online gambling ban, which they both coincidentally support;

* He will return to Congress next year as Senate Minority Leader, and plans to seek reelection to the Senate in the 2016 elections, when he will be 77 years old.

Related and similar