Egaming power players in US election boost
Democrat Harry Reid retains Senate majority leader role, increases chances of lame duck success.
The US politicians backing egaming regulation have retained their powerful positions following last night’s election results, which saw Barack Obama win another four years in the White House.
As far as the chances of federal egaming legislation go, the continuation of the status quo is likely to increase its chances of progress, with Senator Harry Reid, the man poised to introduce his online poker legislation in this month’s lame duck session which starts today, holding onto his control of the Senate after fellow Democrats won in key states including Indiana and Massachusetts.
Going into the election, the Democrats held 53 seats in the Senate while the GOP held 47, and with the former retaining control, Reid stands a far better chance of striking a deal to pass his bill. Had control switched to the Republican party, tagging an egaming bill onto a larger and more urgent piece of legislation would have proved almost impossible.
A victory for Mitt Romney could have put an end to hopes of regulation in the near term. The GOP included language in its 2012 political platform which described its intentions to prohibit online gambling, as well as to reverse the DoJ’s clarification of the Wire Act which widened the door to state-by-state regulation when it was announced in December 2011.
However in his home state of Nevada, Reid’s protégé Shelley Berkley failed to match her party leader’s success, losing out to Dean Heller in a close-fought campaign. With 97% of votes counted, Heller led Berkley by 46% to 45%.
Nevada Senator Heller, who had maintained a steady lead in the polls, has been instrumental in lobbying for Republican support for Reid’s online poker efforts, a role which caused cross-party friction as the election drew closer.
Heller accused Reid of putting Berkley’s chances of winning Nevada’s Senate election ahead of the success of an online poker bill, however he later confirmed his desire to work with the Senate majority leader after the election. A summary of the bill was leaked in September, confirming that it aims to regulate online poker and off-track horse betting, while banning all other forms of online gaming.
Heller said at the time: “We’re wearing different uniforms, and we will be for the next 26 days. But I have no doubt, no doubt, we get past this election and Senator Reid and I are going to sit down and put the past behind us. Nevada can’t afford anything different.”
Meanwhile, with Reid’s online poker collaborator Jon Kyl retiring, Republican Jeff Flake was voted in as the new Senator of Arizona.
In California, the man behind this year’s doomed online poker bill, Senator Roderick Wright, won re-election in the safely Democratic Inglewood district despite facing accusations of voter fraud and allegations that he lived outside his district. Wright told eGR in September that he plans to re-introduce an egaming bill in January, having failed to garner enough support from the state’s key stakeholders “ namely tribes, card rooms and racetracks “ to see the legislation pass.
In Iowa, Jeff Danielson, who attempted to pass an online poker bill in February 2011 and will do so again in 2013, held onto his role as the state’s Senate President.