Saturday December 13,2014 : ONLINE GAMBLING BANNING ATTEMPTS WILL RETURN NEXT YEAR.
Nevada senator nails his colours to the mast.
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 legalization 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.