Where does Harry Reid stand on internet gambling?

Veteran US and Nevada Senator Harry Reid’s recently announced retirement from politics may be a good thing for the industry, judging by his most recent comments on the legalisation of online poker.

In a radio interview last week Reid (75), who has hitherto been for legalised online poker but against internet casino activity, appeared to suggest that he has done an about-face and is not prepared in his remaining time in the Senate to campaign for carve-outs for online poker in threatening proposals like Sheldon Adelson’s Restoration of America’s Wire Act.

In fact, Reid went so far as to suggest that he was now reluctant to support the legalisation of online poker under any circumstances, according to some reports on the interview.

“Online gaming is not good for our country,” Reid allegedly said.

The Senator was not directly supportive of RAWA, saying that he will see how the proposal fares in the House, where it is at committee stage at present. But he was clear on his opinion regarding online gambling and Nevada, saying that “it is not the direction we should go”, despite the already legal intrastate status of the industry in his home state, and the fact that mobile on-premises gambling is widely accepted.

Such comments contradict his approach last year, when he said he would support initiatives to legalise online poker, and his efforts before that when he negotiated online poker legalisation with then arch-online gambling opponent Sen. Jon Kyl.

John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance appeared as puzzled by Reid’s comments as the rest of us, telling the publication Vegas Inc. this week: “Sen. Reid has been a vocal supporter of Internet poker and the regulation of Internet poker, and I certainly hope that position has not changed.”

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