Harry Reid's Bosses May Urge Him to Back Online Gambling

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may be behind regulated online gambling, if the powers that be tell him that's what he supports.

With two years of drastic drops in casino gambling revenue behind them, and continuing declines while parts of the country are acting as if the recession is over, land-based casino bosses may look to online gambling for salvation. This may mean that US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada will hear from the money men who have financed his campaigns that it's time to get behind Barney Frank's Internet gambling regulation bill.

Nevada casino owners have been among the big supporters of the US attempted ban on online casinos, fighting off the potential competition. But a need to find cheap new sources of revenue, without the exorbitant overhead, development, and operational costs of mega-resorts is turning minds, bit by bit.

American Gaming Association head Frank Fahrenkopf noted that his base had shifted its outlook on online gambling from against to neutral over the years, and told this week's Global Gaming Expo that examining the possibilities of Internet gaming may well be a main issue at the group's December meeting.

Reid has consistently avoided links to Frank's attempt to regulate online gambling. The Senate leader went so far as to force Senator Ron Wyden to withdraw an amendment to health care legislation that tied Internet gambling tax revenue to funding health care.

Reid said at the time that he didn't want a controversial subject like online gambling to interfere with health care bills. But health care itself, along with abortion, already made the bill far more controversial than online casinos could ever do, and the massive funding regulation of Internet gambling would provide may have made both subjects more palatable to the public, once linked.

Many analysts thought at the time that Reid was reacting to the voices of his contributors, rejecting any chance of licensing online gambling companies. But, as the AGA changes it's views, a powerful new legislative voice may drive the Frank bill to advance out of committee, finally.