Odds may be long but online gambling still possible

Although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid did not include online poker in the tax bill up for a vote today, it isn’t dead yet, according to Politico’s Mike Allen.

“He’s really pressing his foot on the gas for this,” Allen said during an appearance this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

Allen noted that the power of the majority leader should not be underestimated. After all, it was former Majority Leader Bill Frist who successfully pushed a late-session ban on Internet gaming. Reid, he said, seems just as committed to seeing the ban lifted for poker.
   
The Washington Post weighed in on the poker bill debate over the weekend saying the measure "could be added to an omnibus spending bill or other must-pass legislation in the coming days."

Reporter Dan Eggen noted that passage of the bill is “uncertain at best” but the push is on now because it likely faces worse prospects next year when Republicans control the House.

The Post also reports that two major Las Vegas casino companies, Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International, gave a combined $375,000 to an outside Democratic group, Patriot Majority, that ran election ads in favor of Reid this fall.