We’re not even four hours into Saturday and already there are a variety of rumors about a potential alliance between Las Vegas Sands CEO and outspoken internet gambling opponent Sheldon Adelson, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (pictured), and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The three amigos would apparently band together for a bill legalizing online poker bill in the United States, while perhaps tightening the Wire Act to outlaw other forms of gaming. Or, the entire industry could come crashing down altogether, according to industry insiders.

We thought it’d be useful to recap the rumor mill. Note that PocketFives has not been able to independently confirm any of the news tidbits in this story.

Update: A person who described himself as a Las Vegas Sands spokesperson posted on PokerUpdate’s website, “Sheldon Adelson has not changed his position.” Adelson has not give a direct comment that PocketFives is aware of.

We’ll start with PokerNews reporter Brett Collson, who Tweeted on Friday, “Spoke with a high-ranking gaming exec who claims to have intel that Sheldon Adelson has hired lobbyists against California’s web poker bill.”

Collson elaborated in two follow up Tweets, “Adelson has supposedly switched his position on internet poker and is now backing a Federal bill with Sen. Harry Reid… NJ Gov. Christie also allegedly going to support Reid’s bill, which could be introduced if and when California’s legislation fails.”

On Saturday, PocketFives confirmed that Collson had indeed made the Tweets (pictured). PokerNews has not yet published a feature article on the topic.

Then there’s Global Gaming Business, which Tweeted on Thursday that Reid could sink the online gambling industry, including poker, entirely: “High-ranking source tells GGB that Harry Reid may seek to tighten Wire Act to make intrastate igaming illegal if Fed bill fails to pass… Reid would gladly end online poker in NV and in all the US if it meant protecting B&M casinos in Vegas… Don’t underestimate Reid. An unholy alliance with Eric Cantor backed by Sheldon’s $$ could sink intrastate online gaming.” Cantor is a top Republican on Capitol Hill.

When or if Reid will introduce an online poker bill in the United States is unclear. As it stands, Congressman Joe Barton introduced HR 2666 last month, the Internet Poker Freedom Act. The bill legalizes online poker in the United States, but lacks an accompanying bill in the Senate. As Brad Polizzano pointed out in a Tweet quoted by Online Poker Report’s Chris Grove, “Perhaps it’s an [empty] ‘poison pill’ threat if [Reid’s] rumored iPoker bill goes nowhere.”

Grove added that he was skeptical of the legitimacy of Reid’s threat: “In exercising the nuclear option of updating the Wire Act to ban intrastate online gambling, Reid would also be acting against the interests – at least the short-term interests – of many in the casino industry that were essential to Reid’s 2010 re-election. Caesars, for one, has sunk considerable resources into developing the foundation for a regulated online gambling business, as has Station Casinos via their stake in Ultimate Gaming.”

As a CardPlayer article pointed out on Friday, “It’s no secret that land-based casino groups prefer a Federal solution to online gaming rather than a patchwork quilt of state regulation. I’d almost go so far as to say they’d even be happy to see a Federal poker-only bill that excludes all other forms of gaming so that they don’t have to evolve and adapt to the digital 21st century. Reid still owes them a debt of gratitude from 2010.”

Adelson (pictured) has publicly expressed his disdain for internet gambling, calling the industry “fool’s gold” and a “societal train wreck waiting to happen.”

Meanwhile, one regulated online poker room has launched in Nevada, with a handful more rumored to be on the way by the end of the year. New Jersey’s intrastate online gambling market is slated to launch in late November, and the two gambling-centric states could seek a compact to increase liquidity in 2014.

An e-mail sent to Rich Muny and John Pappas of the Poker Players Alliance seeking comment was not returned at press time. We’ll keep you posted on the latest poker legislation news right here on PocketFives.

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