Reid, backed by casino companies that \”were among the Democrat\’s biggest donors during his fierce re-election fight\”, is currently passing a draft-version of his own brand new internet gambling bill around Capitol Hill this week.
The Wall Street Journal published an article today that is must-read for anyone who has been following the (wait-wait-and-wait) saga of legalizing online poker; check it out here -> WSJ.com|Reid Backs Legalizing Web Poker.
Key components of the draft-version of the Reid internet gambling bill:
1. Overturn UIGEA.
2. Provide legislation for poker-only.
3. Limit legal internet gaming to \”allow only existing casinos, horse tracks and slot-machine makers to operate online poker websites for the first two years after the bill passes.\” It\’s unclear what they are proposing to do with Full Tilt, Poker Stars, Ultimate Bet and the like \”rogue\” offshore sites during the time-out.
4. Outsource oversight of internet gambling to the *state* government.
5. Earmark revenue on wager to both state and federal governments.
The Vegas B&Ms had this to say on their confidence that new \”one-size-please-all\” Reid bill might navigate it\’s way through the 111th Congress before the end of the lame duck session:
\”Alan Feldman, a spokesman for MGM Resorts International, a large Las Vegas-based casino company, said he hoped such a bill had a possibility of rushing through in the next few weeks. \’A lot of things happen in this kind of time frame,\’ he said.\”
@ppapoker tweeted the link to the article at about 8p EST/5p Vegas tonight.