After being at the forefront of the regulatory efforts in Congress for several years, former Senate Majority Leader and current Nevada Senator Harry Reid (pictured) has now firmly aligned himself with billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson in his fight against online gambling in the US.

In an
interview with the Las Vegas Sun’s Amber Phillips, Reid tried to dance around the subject, but admitted he was more likely to ban online gambling than endorse passage of legislation to regulate the activity.

“Unless we can get something done with poker, I’m going to look closely. I haven’t made up my mind, but I’m going to look closely into banning it totally,” Reid said to Phillips. “I’m going to take a hard look at it. It would be something I would certainly consider strongly.”

Reid has stated that if a bill from Jason Chaffetz to ban i-gaming in the US were to move through the House, he would be a huge advocate for a Senate version. In an interview with a radio station in March, Reid had previously said that he would “give it a good hard try” to get Chaffetz’s legislation, called RAWA, passed in the Senate.

The change in Reid’s mindset regarding the regulation of the online gambling business is a 180-degree turn. A longtime advocate for the casino industry, Reid has been at the helm of many previous attempts to regulate online poker on a Federal level. His most notable effort, teaming with now-retired Arizona Senator Jon Kylin 2012, came up short, as the bill never made it out of the draft phase. Now, he’s aligned with Adelson(pictured).

In the interview with Phillips, Reid tried to explain the change of heart he has had regarding online gambling and poker. “I worked very hard to get online poker,” Reid commented in the interview. “I thought (it) would be great for the state of Nevada. It’s something that is done recreationally around the world. I thought it would be great for Nevada to get it controlled. That didn’t work, could not get it done.”

Rather than attempt to work for legislation to allow online poker or get a carve-out for the industry, Reid now believes that a total ban on internet gambling is the course to take. While this isn’t a huge change from his previous position, it is notable that Reid, who will retire when his term expires in 2016, is going against several key contributors, including Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts, to side with the Adelson-led faction that is seeking a Federal ban.

Not everyone is against our industry. The Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance, John Pappas (pictured), stated to PocketFives, “RAWA would be devastating for the many Las Vegas casinos who have already invested heavily in the internet space. It would also cut off the arms of legs of the US gambling industry, denying them the ability to expand their businesses and their brands through the internet. It is unfathomable that Congress would single out the gambling industry and not allow them to utilize the internet for their business.”

Regarding comments from Reid that average citizens do not care about the subject, Pappas said, “I’d like to prove Senator Reid wrong. People do care about the freedom to play poker and I hope poker players are reminding their Senators of this fact.”

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