Harry Reid Not Optimistic About Online Poker Odds

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is currently working on a bill that would legalize online poker in the United States, but that doesn't mean that he thinks it will pass.

Speaking to the Las Vegas Sun newspaper last week Reid said that while he is attempting to put a piece of legislation together, he does not think it will make its way through the country's legislature.

“I felt for several months now that I don’t see any movement on this. I don’t see anything happening," Reid told the newspaper.

Reid's bill comes in contrast to one introduced by Republican Peter King of New York, who recently introduced a bill that would legalize online poker and casino games at a federal level. Speaking about that bill Reid said he thinks there is little chance that it will be passed into law.

Even though the federal government has stalled on all opportunities to launch a legal solution to internet gambling, individual states have begun to figure it out. Delaware, New Jersey, and Reid's home state of Nevada have all launched their own online betting industries, and several additional states are looking into the matter themselves.

But the federal government's prospects of passing are becoming more and more bleak by the day.

“We’re still trying, but I’m not really confident we can get something done,” Reid said.