Reid preparing new federal poker push
Nevada senator makes new attempt to move poker legislation forward " Congressman King's bill could be introduced next week
US Senators Harry Reid and Dean Heller are working together again on new federal online poker legislation, while a separate bill sponsored by New York State Congressman Peter King could be introduced next week.
Heller, the junior Republican Senator for Nevada, worked with co-sponsors Reid and Jon Kyl, who has since retired, last year on legislation which was never introduced due to a lack of support.
Chandler Smith, a spokeswoman for Heller, told political news site The Hill that Reid and Heller are “continuing to work closely together on this issue”.
“At the same time, Senator Heller is consistently reaching out to his Republican colleagues. In fact, he held meetings on this very topic as recently as last week,” Smith added.
With New York State congressman Peter King and Representative Joe Barton also expected to introduce legislation, Congress could be set to see three federal online poker bills this year. King “plans on introducing his legislation next week”, according to his spokesman Kevin Fogarty.
Last year Reid set Heller a deadline of 10 October to secure 15 Republican supporters for his bill, leading to a public fall-out. Kyl also criticised the deadline before the Republican Senator then accused Reid of prioritising Democrat Shelley Berkley defeating Heller in the state Senate election ahead of passing poker legislation.
A draft of the bill was leaked and criticised by several state officials for excluding lotteries from being able to offer online gambling except for daily lottery games.