In a quote that appeared on Friday in the Las Vegas Sun, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid(D-NV, pictured) painted a pretty grim picture of internet gambling legislation in the near future. As we know by now, Congressman Peter King (R-NY) introduced a broad bill last Thursday that would legalize much more than online poker. However, according to Reid, it could all be for naught.

Reid told the Sun, “I felt for several months now that I don’t see any movement on this. I don’t see anything happening.” Reid was reportedly set to team up with UIGEA proponent and now retired Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) at the end of the last Congressional session in December to introduce a poker-only bill, but only a draft bill was released and no legislation was formally introduced.

Reid not only opposes King’s bill, according to the Sun, but also says that the legislation’s introduction could actually hurt a poker-only bill’s chances: “While Reid added that he doubted King’s bill would pass, the introduction of a broad piece of gaming legislation both divides the sympathies of pro-gaming lawmakers and helps to stiffen the resolve of those opposed to gaming, whom online poker enthusiasts had hoped to persuade with the limited nature of their gaming legalization.”

The Sun added, “Earlier this year, poker lobbyists told the Sun that if legislation wasn’t in the process of moving by June or July, online poker on a Federal level was pretty much sunk.” In the meantime, Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware have all moved forward with legalized internet gambling and/or online poker. The former only allows poker and is the lone state to have a regulated site, Ultimate Poker, up and running. WSOP.com, which Caesars owns, is reportedly next in line.

Recently, the Poker Players Alliance, which lobbies on behalf of players on Capitol Hill and beyond, announced that it would largely be focusing its attention on legislation and legal cases on a state level. Whether internet poker could move the way of Powerball and incorporate customers from multiple states remains to be seen.

We’ll keep you posted on the latest poker legislation news right here on PocketFives.

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