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Online Gaming Industry Pushes for Sen. Robert Menendezs Online Skill Games Proposal

While online poker groups and US gamers have greeted this year's proposed online gaming legalization with considerable enthusiasm, such efforts are not likely to success without support from traditional casino facilities.

The most recent move by online gaming supporters in Congress came in August 2009, when Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey introduced a proposal that exempt skill games like poker and backgammon from online gaming bans.

Sen. Menendez's proposal follows the introduction in the spring of a more complete attempt at online skill games legalization and regulation by power House committee chair Rep. Barney Frank. Rep. Frank has been swamped with financial laws and other economic-related issue but looks likely to get his proposal to a floor vote.

The Senate has long been viewed as the trickier of the two legislative groups to get pass through and poker lobbyist gave Sen. Menendez's proposal a rousing welcome. But while Menendez plays an important role in the Democratic leadership, he does not lead a relevant committee and has no co-sponsors for his proposal.

Aside from that, no hearings have been scheduled for the proposal and that would usually be the next step. Regardless of Senate rules and procedures, the bottom line is that no proposal on online skill games gambling is going to become a law without the approval of Senator Harry Reid, former Nevada Gaming Commission chairman, who as Senate majority leader is the most important individual in the chamber.

John Pappas, the executive director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) said on November 8th, 2009 that he would agree that Harry Reid is important to any gaming proposal that is looking to move through. He said that they are hopeful that they can continue to educate him on the issue.

Jim Manley, Reid's spokesperson, said that Reid has not changed his position, which is that online poker and other skill games would be too difficult to control. Manley said that Reid is still very skeptical about the chance of regulating online gaming. Reid is the largest recipient of campaign donations from the casino industry in the Senate and the land-base casino industry remains divided on the issue.

Harrah's Entertainment and MGM Mirage are in favor of permitting some online gaming while Wynn Resorts and other casinos are opposed. That division has taken the traditional companies' American Gaming Association out of the picture. The PPA said that it would help if it could win backing from others in the land-based casino industry.

Pappas said that he believes that positive vibe would inevitable spread in the strip as gaming companies realized that online gaming was the future of the casino gaming industry. For the meantime, prosecutors continue to confiscate funds moving between gaming groups and their clients and wrest guilty pleas from gaming executives. Even the best-laid lobbying plans can backfire.

The chief executive of London-traded BetonSports, David Carruthers, once wrote a piece supporting the US legalization on sports wagering, while his group secretly controlled Offshore Gaming Association. The latter information only came out after Carruthers' indictment. He is due to be sentenced in about two months' time.

 

11/19/2009 23:24 PM
Ashley Young

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