Preview Of Reid-Kyl Bill Released

A draft of the long awaited Reid-Kyl online poker legalization bill has been released, and analysts are claiming that the state of Nevada is being favored in the legislation.

Steve Friess, a writer for Politico has been reviewing the draft, and claims that the bill puts state qualifications at such a high level that only Nevada will be able to meet from the start, giving the Silver State a clear advantage when it comes to online poker.

Backing up his claim, Friess cites the bill's language that claims that in order to qualify to be federally licensed for online poker that a state must have ‘demonstrated capabilities relevant to the online poker environment.’

"Only one state fits that description because only one has yet issued any Web poker licenses: Nevada," Friess writes. "In addition, the legislation as written requires a cut of the 16% ‘poker activity fee’ collected by the federal government to go to the state in which the poker site is licensed."

The bill is largely similar to versions which have been rumored for months. One interesting change however is the exclusion of a section which would penalize players who play at "illegal" sites.

While the bill would not criminally prosecute those players, it would make any money that players receive from an online casino able to be seized by the government.

The bill is supposedly being set up for an introduction during the lame duck session of Congress which will take place after the November 6th elections. It has been estimated that this current bill has about a 50/50 chance of making it into law before the end of the year.