Harry Reid Expects New Push For Federal Online Gambling Ban In 2015

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Friday, December 19th, 2014 | Written by Stephen Smith

US poker players breathed a sigh of relief this month, after the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) failed to be added to a must-pass omnibus spending bill, which would have resulted in the blanket banning of online poker across the United States. Nevertheless, RAWA is likely to rear its ugly head again in 2015, and commenting on the issue current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who will relinquish his position when the Republicans gain control of both chambers of Congress, explained to the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week :

“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.”

Denies Deal Reached with Adelson

Such statements by Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has caused some to believe the 75 year-old may have struck a deal with Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, 81, in which the casino billionaire would agree not to fund the 2016 election campaign of Reid’s next Republican opponent, in return for Reid pushing for a ban on online gambling. Keen to quash such rumors, Reid said that although he had been friends with Adelson for many years, the divide between their politics was so pronounced as to make such an alliance unfeasible.

Reid Against The Wire Act

Despite hailing from the country’s biggest gambling market, the Senator from Nevada now seems eager to see the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 replaced or reworded to ban all types of internet gambling, and not just sports betting.

“I think there will be efforts made to get rid of the Wire Act [in a Republican-initiated Congress],” explained Reid, although he did seem to throw a potential lifeline to poker players after stating that, “If there is a chance to (legalize) poker, I will do that, but I am not for the Wire Act.”

Poker Not A Priority

Although Reid’s comments seem to indicate a willingness to promote a carve-out for online poker, at the same time it can clearly be seen that such a move is not a priority for Reid, and that his ultimate aim still remains to push for the Restoration of America’s Wire Act. Furthermore, the Senator has said that in the eventuality of no poker carve-out, then any bill which sough to legalize poker alone would never succeed, and that the best way forward would subsequently be to pass a bill banning online gambling first, before later introducing an exemption for poker.

Attitude Shows Lack Of Industry Understanding

While Reid has long supported a ban on online gambling, his past support for a poker carve-out had helped the senator gain some level of support from advocacy groups, such as the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). However, all indications now show that Harry Reid has a fundamental lack of understanding as to how the whole online gambling and poker industry works, which is surprising considering he is a senior US Senator from Nevada, where online poker has been legal since April 2013. Not surprisingly, the PPA has since reconsidered its support for Reid, with PPA Executive Director John Pappas, explaining:

“We as a poker community need to recognize that the success of poker often is built on other forms of gaming. If you cut off all other games in the US market, investment and interest would shrink considerably. We’re going to fight tooth and nail to protect the interests of poker players, but poker-only in the US might not be a sustainable model to benefit players, long term.”

Furthermore, Harry Reid has not made it at all clear why he considers online poker a safer option than online casinos, or why lotteries, horse racing, and fantasy sports are also considered safe enough to receive a RAWA exemption.

Regulated Markets To Oppose Federal Ban

Finally, a federal ban on online gambling would require the country’s only three regulated states of Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey to shut down their own industries, a move that is likely to be resisted tooth and nail by these states. A clear example of the lengths they would go to in order to resist a federal ban can be seen in the example of New Jersey, which has battling the feds in order to overturn a 1992 federal law and bring sports betting to Atlantic City casinos.