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Tuesday’s US election results could not have been better for online poker and there are three primary reasons.
From PokerScout.com:
Setting the “big” politics aside, it has been the opinion of many that in order for the Reid/Kyl federal online poker bill to have any legitimate shot during the post-election “lame duck” session, three things needed to occur:
- President Obama needed to be reelected
- The Senate needed to retain its Democratic majority, keeping Harry Reid in leadership
- Republican Senator Dean Heller from Nevada needed to win reelection
Luckily for poker players, America went 3 for 3. President Obama won the electoral election with 332 votes to Mitt Romney’s 206; the Senate gained three seats and widened its majority to 55-45 over the Republicans; and Dean Heller, a Republican, squeaked past his opponent Shelley Berkley by less than 15,000 votes to win in Nevada.
On the other side of the spectrum, a Mitt Romney win would have potentially crippled any chance for online poker to become legal at the federal level for the next four years.
Heading into the Republican Convention, it was revealed that the GOP platform included anti-online gambling language.
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Furthermore, one of the biggest donors to the Republican party was none other than Vegas mogul Sheldon Adelson. He strongly opposes legalization of Web poker. Adelson’s influence over the party could not have been overemphasized with a Romney win.
Heller will be put in charge of gathering Republican support to essentially “look the other way” should he and Reid find a vehicle in which to attach their draft legislation. Consider that an improbable task under a Romney Presidency.
Zach Tracy, writing for PokerFuse.com notes:
Senators after this election means that they have no pressures to appease their anti-gambling constituencies by blocking a federal online poker bill. This can only work to Heller’s favor and our chances.
- Ace King, Gambling911.com
