Brennan Jr: ‘Why Would Senator Menendez Vote for Federal Online Poker Legislation’
Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (imega.org) head Joe Brennan, Jr. made it clear, there is more preventing passage of any online poker bill at the federal level than a simple lack of Republican votes.
In an interview with PokerFuse.com, Brennan, Jr. noted that Democratic Senator Robert Menendez has little interest in ensuring that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Dean Heller’s state of Nevada controls real money Web poker on the federal front.
Reid and Heller have been pushing for their own bill in Congress that would benefit casino interests back home but New Jersey is another state vying for a piece of the Internet poker pie and they also have representation in the Senate, a la Robert Menendez.
People seem to think that the republican votes are the only thing stopping this bill from passing through the Senate. Setting Republicans aside, why would Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey and a long-time political ally of Senator Reid, vote for this bill?
New Jersey is one example where the instate casinos have indicated that they want to operate internet gambling in their state. Menendez might be a US senator, but he runs locally in New Jersey and there are a lot of people in New Jersey that gamble in those those casinos, benefit from tax dollars generated by those casinos and work in those casinos – not to mention that the owners of the casinos have indicated a preference for wanting to own that franchise.
Now what good does Senator Menendez do for himself to fly in the face of what his constituents want to introduce competition to a brick-and-mortar casino industry that already provides so many benefits his home state?
A Congressman or Senator’s primary job is to advance the interests of their constituents.
Brennan Jr. added that the House is highly unlikely to bring a bill to vote when House Leader John Boehner represents a state, Ohio, that just legalized casino gambling two years ago.
Why on earth would John Boehner bring to a vote a bill for an activity that would compete with this nascent casino industry in his home state?
So why would anybody in Ohio support legislation that may have a deleterious effect on their casino industry at a time when they can ill afford to have competition. This is something that people don’t take into account.
In the end, Brennan, Jr. envisions a state-by-state legalization process similar to that of the Powerball lottery platform where individual states will form compacts and pool their players. Not all states will participate. Utah, which is one of two states that does not have a lottery (the other being Hawaii), has already passed an “opt-out” measure.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
