Nevada Senator exploiting poker interstate compacts
Friday August 30,2013 : PROSPECT OF A REID FEDERAL ONLINE POKER BILL RAISED AGAIN
Is the wiley Nevada Senator exploiting the trend to interstate compacts?
Nevada Senator Harry Reid was in the news again this week, still hinting that he may have a federal online poker legalization bill up his sleeve and intimating that such a bill would answer the growing operator clamour for interstate compacts between New Jersey and Nevada as a means to improve player liquidity.
Reporting on the operator desire to see New Jersey and Nevada combine their legalised online poker markets, the Reuters news service recently revealed that operators and state regulators have been discussing possibilities with some urgency, but that the legislative political establishment has not so far been involved.
NewsReview.com asked Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Tick Segerblom whether his committee would handle legalization associated with such an interstate compact and whether he was yet involved, to which he tersely responded: “It would and I haven’t.”
This week Reid, who has failed on at least two occasions to drive federal online poker legalization through Congress, and is reportedly about to launch another attempt , hinted that state legislatures would not necessarily have to get involved in a compact if a federal solution was achieved.
Somewhat mysteriously, Reid said: “Maybe they’ll get some federal legalization to allow them to do that before then.”
He rambled somewhat in adding: “We’ve always – we have talked for some time now about compacts. … And if we’re able to get something done – and you know, we’ve worked hard to get that done – that’s something that we would certainly consider, legislatively.”
Reid admitted to NewsReview that he has discussed the issue with casino representatives – presumably in his home state – but said he had not broached the issue with individual state regulators, although members of his staff may have made contact.
The publication examined the complexities of interstate compacts and whether federal ratification of such compacts was required, quoting an expert on the subject who said that both state legislatures would in the normal course of events be involved, with final approval coming from the US Congress.
