Over the course of the last few months, the chances of online poker receiving new legislation was looking more likely in the Senate. However, these hopes appear to be dimming, as legislation regarding online poker seems to be less likely. It was just a few months ago that Nevada Sen. Harry Reid spoke about an Internet poker bill that they would attempt to pass before the year was out. However, recently when asked about the bill, Reid seemed much less confident than he had been in the past. He even went as far as to state that he huge poker bill may be a political impossibility during these tough times in the Senate. As Vegas, and other cities wait to see what is done about the approaching fiscal cliff, getting anything else done, especially a bill of this magnitude, seems to be much more unlikely.
“Poker is an issue that’s on the front burner for me, for Sen. Reid and Sen. Kyl,” Dean Heller said Tuesday. “The front burner for everybody else is this rules package and the fiscal cliff … it’s just hard getting it to the forefront so that we can make it an issue and get it moving.”
Reid also commented on the subject, saying that in Internet poker bill would need anywhere between 15 to 17 Republican votes in the Senate, and at the current stage they had not been able to convince a single public and Sen. to back the bill. Although Reid and Heller had both been caught up in some nasty name calling and bashing during the election season, both of them had agreed to work with one another in order to get the online poker legislation the past. The goal of the bill would be to roll back the ruling from the Department of Justice from the 1961 Wire Act. This act stated that all forms of interstate gambling online illegal, but did allow for states to allow for Internet poker, and then to regulate the market. The legislation is currently in draft form, but it does not appear likely to see the floor of the Senate anytime soon. Two years ago, Sen. Harry Reid had tried to place legislation that allowed for online poker into a tax compromise bill, but was unsuccessful in doing so.
It does not appear that Sen. Harry Reid is backing off of his promise to help to bring online poker to the floor of the Senate, but it does appear that it will not be happening in 2012, or at least until the fiscal cliff negotiations come to an end. As Nevada begins to license companies for their upcoming Internet poker platform, other states look to follow suit, and are waiting for legislation rulings from federal sources before doing so. It was just a few years ago that many online poker companies were shut down, and had their assets seized by the federal government, for illegally allowing individuals within the United States to play poker and Gamble online. It will be interesting to see how federal legislation is brought about, and whether or not it will be comprehensive enough to give a definitive answer to states, as to whether they should move forward with online poker as a legitimate way for their state to increase revenue.