New Jersey has a bill that is far along that includes all forms of igaming. By the time the lame duck arrives Christie could easily have signed it. And cards will be in the air in NV. This article was very negative without saying why other than "congress doesnt pass many bills". What an enlightening insight!

Delaware is first to OK full-service casino gambling -- online

Disagree, the biggest problem is no one has offered the State governments (lotteries) anything, this idea that every Democrat in Washington supports a bill that turns online gaming over to Nevada is just a myth.

The Democrats might be more in favor of online gaming, but outside of Nevada (New Jersey) the idea of limiting it to B&M casinos or blocking State lotteries isn't popular with either party.

What someone needs to suggest is a concession to the States, my idea is letting lotteries offer online bingo like Minnesota already does - which is actually bigger than poker in some countries, and might win some support from the Church Lady crowd.

We've been banging this drum for poker only for years and it's been successful, so successful that there is no longer a discussion at these Congressional/Senate hearings about the morality, yet we keep acting like FoF and CSM are our biggest enemy.

We won the war in Washington, but unless we can divide up the spoils amongst the 'big 3' (Commercial, Tribal, and lottery) along with some kick backs to Horseracing (who are already gambling away on the internet) it will have been for nothing.

it's not just not very many, congress is on LOCK DOWN. tea party gone wild.

NV is just poker?

Things are very quiet this recess, which doesn't have to mean much. While it is painful to see those directly lobbying express pessimism at least we aren't hearing Reid or Kyl saying its unlikely. However hearing Reid's remarks about struggling to get Republican support is concerning. I will be very frustrated if that is what kills us in December after all the progress that has been made.

Would you expect Reid to say that Heller was doing a great job soliciting support amongst the GOP three months out from the election in which Reid is trying to win a 'second Senate seat' - even if it were true?

If you want a reason to worry, google the article I read earlier today in which Reid declared that Nevada needs to diversify it's economy away from gambling to green energy - talk about setting up an exit strategy for himself.

A) Couldn't get it done prior to the election because of Heller.

B) If we don't get it done in the lameduck, no worries, Shelley and I have a green energy plan to stave off recession.

I wasn't talking about optimism/pessimism as it is concerned to the posters here in the forum. I was talking about the statements that have come from Gary Loveman. I recall (correct me if I am wrong) that he was saying on national TV back in 2010 that online poker was going to get done on the federal level.

Based on that theory, optimism from Loveman has shown to not get us what we want. I can only hope what pessimism from Loveman will bring.

I am hoping that he is simply making these statements to try to get the ball rolling. But I, just like 99% in this thread, are just spitting out hopeful speculations.

Loveman has better access to information on whether the bill is likely to pass anytime soon. He's probably communicating with Reid or his staff regularly.

He also is responsible to shareholders. It doesn't seem likely he would screw with share values by making overly speculative statements.

It's a shame that we are hostage to a dysfunctional Congress.

True, but Loveman didn't really say anything we didn't know, "It ultimately requires a legislative action in a Congress that hasn't had many in this session," Loveman said.

We've had everything that could go right, go right for us recently, but the bottom line always was that Reid needs a 'must pass' vehicle, and right now there aren't any 'must fix' issues.

We need one more miracle, some major issue to arise in the next three months that most everyone agrees can not wait until the new year.

So are only chance for a bill is from august til december really and after that we are screwed for a while? I hate congress... they need to do away with the whole system.

There will be plenty of this stuff in the lame duck. Once the White House is decided, both sides will be more likely to play nice (relative to how they have been playing).

As much as we'd hate to admit it, this election has huge bearing on whether a poker bill can pass this lame duck. We really don't want Romney to win if we want a shot at this.

Fiscal cliff: Congress weighs another round of kick the can



My guess at this point is that Obama wins the election and a weak 6 month extension of the tax cut passes. Hoping that is a suitable scenario for poker but who the hell knows.

Intrade has Obama at 58.2%

Pinnacle has Obama at ~68%

Fivethirtyeight has Obama at 80.7%.

Once you place a bet on pinnacle and intrade, do you get to keep the odds as they were when you wagered?

I should hope so. I believe on Intrade you don't even need to wait for the results. You can buy/sell shares at any time.

Tension brewing between Reid and Heller over poker bill?

This is revealing in that the strategy seems to be to first get the GOP House riled up about the Wire Act (and potentially now the IGBA) not applying to i-poker, hope they pass a Wire Act amendment, then Reid would amend that amendment in the Senate with a Safe Harbor provision for Federally regulated i-poker.

In accordance with that strategy, perhaps our '16 week focus' should be amended to concentrate on GOP House members, not with pro poker tweets but with anti-offshore i-gambling messages?

Won't Reid still need those poker votes in the Senate for his final provision though?

BAM!

I've been tossing some anti-gambling undertones in some of my messages, but I do think we can go too far in that regards. The real message I want to get out there is; online gambling is here to stay, the only question is how much and who regulates?

To be clear, having only read the snippet from Slugger5x at this point, I see this as a positive sign. The wheels are churning. That a republican and a democrat are bickering is no surprise at all.

Sure, but from what Heller is saying, it may never get to that point if the House doesn't provide the 'cover' for GOP Senators to vote for it, in other words, if the legislation doesn't begin as a purely anti-online gambling bill, Heller can't drum up enough support for a Senate compromise that carves out Federally regulated i-poker.

The good news is that Addelson pulls the House strings, and he will surely support a Wire Act strengthening bill, so this process may seem counter-intuitive but it might actually have a chance.

Here's a link to Heller's letter:
Heller Letter

We are looking at Adelson and Kyl wanting exactly the same thing, with Reid standing directly in their way. Adelson can drum up GOP House support if he wants. We are still in a strong position imo.

Agreed, Addelson may not be in love with an amendment that carves out poker (mainly because his Vegas competitors want/need it so badly), but having a common enemy (offshore gambling) causes strange alliances.

Sheldon Adelson Backed PAC Goes After U.S. Rep. John Tierney for Family Gambling Troubles

Agree with all of this. Who is going to write this bill in the house? Perhaps Spencer Bachus

They are already anti-offshore gaming. IMO our aim should be to show them that the poker community is strong and organized, so they'll see rationale to yield on licensing and regulation of poker in order to address the other issues.

The DAP is targeted where it needs to be. I hope everyone will participate.

Reid-Heller rift widens over web poker


???? deadline Monday?

Isn't this huge?