Nevada Senator changes his mind about online gaming

Nevada Senator and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, soon to retire, has decided to switch postures and now could be supporting anti-online gaming groups. During a radio interview, Senator Reid had to answer a few questions about Sheldon Adelson’s campaign to federally ban online gaming and poker. The answer that Reid provided us with was shocking as Nevada Senator seems more concerned about online gaming now than ever: “online gaming is not good for our country; for the state of Nevada, online gaming is not the direction we should go”. Nevada Senator was one of the main supporters of online gaming on 2012 when he joined forces with Arizona Senator Jon Kyl; both senators tried their best to push federal online poker regulation back in 2012, a bill that never came to light. In 2008, Reid was one of the main supporters for federal online gaming regulations; in 2010, during his reelection campaign, Nevada Senator became the protagonist of this online gaming charade when he endorsed online gaming regulation. Senator Reid has been in the same side for several years although his efforts to federally pass gaming legislation would not include all forms of gaming, like online casinos, online poker rooms and lotteries.

The radio interview immediately drew the interest of both sides of the story. Adelson spokesman, Andy Abboud, came out saying: “I think Reid hears Mr. Adelson’s position, and I think the fact that they share that position speaks volumes about where he is on the issue”. While the other side, Executive Director of the Poker Players’ Alliance, John Pappas, has made a better point: “Senator Reid has been a vocal supporter of Internet poker and the regulation of Internet poker and I certainly hope that position has not changed. I think there’s clearly one casino interest in the state that opposes the proposed federal bill banning online gaming and poker, but Mr. Reid does have a lot of other casino interests and home-state employers that are very interested in seeing internet poker be prosperous”.