Reid's 'Net Betting Bill Would Benefit His Casino Backers

MGM and Caesars, big contributors to Nevada senator's re-election, would be first in line to receive licenses

Two big Las Vegas casino companies that pumped more than $650,000 into Nevada Sen. Harry Reid’s re-election would benefit from a controversial Internet gambling measure that the Senate majority leader is attempting to tuck into the massive tax cut bill, according to lobbyists and Senate staff members familiar with the measure.

The draft bill, which Reid has been circulating among colleagues over the last week, would permit U.S. casino companies to set up their own Internet poker sites. The measure, first reported by Bloomberg News, would allow them for the first time to tap into a multi-billion-dollar online gambling market that is booming overseas.

But NBC News has learned that the proposal was crafted to make sure that the first licenses would be granted to casinos in states with large and “established” regulatory programs overseeing more than $2 billion in gambling revenue, guaranteeing that big Las Vegas casino companies would have a leg up over potential competitors, especially Indian tribes in other states, according to two lobbyists familiar with the provisions of the bill that Reid has been circulating.

Among the biggest boosters of the Reid bill, the sources said, are MGM Resorts International and Harrah’s, now called Caesars Entertainment, both of which were substantial backers of Reid during his re-election campaign against Republican Sharron Angle.

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