Federal legislation to prohibit all kinds of online gambling except poker is introduced ‘within the or so’, U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-Nev) told sources this week month. Heller has been working together with colleague Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev) to restore the interpretation that is strict of 1961 Wire Act, that has been utilized to prohibit on line gambling, particularly sports betting, before a Department of Justice reinterpretation relaxed regulations in the favor of the Illinois and New York State lotteries several years ago.

Protecting Land Gaming, Heller Says

This news most likely will not review well with all the likes of casino giants Caesars and Station Casinos, which have actually spent millions investing in online gambling in Nevada and nj-new Jersey, as well as lobbying for its expansion into other states; although in Nevada, at least, poker is all either casino operator has going online anyway for now, by dictates of the Gaming Commission. Ironically, however, it’s the Las Vegas casinos that Heller claims he wants to protect, arguing that online gambling would destroy Nevada’s tourism and gambling companies.

‘[Caesars and Station Casinos] are corporate entities and so they believe they can play the game,’ Heller stated. ‘They’re corporate entities. They’ve surely got to keep their shareholders happy … They’ve made the determination that they could compete in that market … I think the devastation for brick and mortar [casinos] in this state … would just be a final nail, I think, in maintaining these businesses healthy,’ added the Senator.

This puts Heller sort of, form of in camp with Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, and Steve Wynn, who also recently spoke down against online gambling; Adelson and new ally Wynn, but, don’t want any online gambling options whatsoever, not even poker, which is all that Nevada now offers anyway (with that maybe not likely to alter any time in the future).

Sands, of course, operates luxury Las Vegas Strip casinos the Venetian and Palazzo, while Wynn has his property that is eponymous well the Encore, close by. Adelson is a huge opponent that is vociferous of gambling and, as chairman of the Coalition to Stop online Gambling (CSIG) which he created, claims his objections are ‘moral'; saying that online gambling promotes social ills in an easy method that his or her own land-based kind of gambling doesn’t. Adelson has pledged to spend ‘whatever it takes’ to defeat any gambling bill that is pro-Internet.

‘I think Adelson introduces some reasonable concerns,’ said Heller, who confirmed he had discussed the specific situation with Adelson, as well as the pro online gambling lobby. ‘And to have the crazy, wild West as an empire of gambling for the nation would have some serious social implications. And I believe that is what he’s focused on.

‘We’re trying to keep it from being just a Nevada issue,’ he added. ‘So Harry and I are trying to look for help from people in each of our conferences to come forward with legislation that, hopefully, long-lasting, provides a solution for all of us.’

Expecting Opposition

Heller acknowledges that their and Reid’s efforts will receive opposition that is strong the pro-online gambling camps, but adds that they are simply just wanting to do ‘what’s perfect for the state of Nevada.’

‘Right now there’s a majority probably around right here looking nothing done,’ he said. ‘You know, they want it Wild that is wild West it comes down to Internet gambling. And I don’t think that’s good.

‘You’ve got members for the AGA [American Gaming Association] taking one place, then you have actually members [ e.g., Adelson and Wynn] going for a different place,’ Heller said. ‘So it’s kind of tough trying to keep in the right and narrow … when it is an issue that modifications every day — who is against it. for it and who’s’

The AGA has officially adopted a stance that is pro-internet despite some member opposition, and backs this new Coalition for Consumer and Online Protections (C4COP) that was made to fight against Adelson’s CSIG group.

One camp that could take positives from the Heller interview will be the Poker Players’ Alliance (PPA), an organization which has long campaigned for poker become acquiesced by the national government as a game of skill and one which should be legislated for separately from other designs of gambling. To the PPA, Heller’s direct acknowledgement of the, and declaration that ‘There is no daylight between where Senator Reid and myself take this kind of issue,’ will be viewed as a step within the direction that is right.