Adam Laxalt lobbied for an online poker ban, so he might well end Nevada’s interstate poker compact.
Adam Laxalt, the current Attorney General of Nevada, is running to replace Brian Sandoval as governor in November. That fact has some online gambling advocates concerned.
As the AG appointed by Gov. Sandoval, one might expect Adam Laxalt to see eye-to-eye with the governor, who has been a major proponent of online poker in Nevada. Instead, Adam Laxalt is an opponent of online poker, even in his home state.
In 2015, Adam Laxalt came out in support of Restore America’s Wire Act, an effort by Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to ban all online gambling in the United States.
That announcement earned a rebuke from Brian Sandoval, who pointed out that the AG needed to support the laws of Nevada — including (or especially) its gambling laws.
Adam Laxalt Opposes Online Poker
That did not deter Laxalt, who is the grandson of Paul Laxalt, who served as Nevada’s US Senator and Governor at various times. Adam Laxalt also happens to be the son of the late-Pete Domenici, who was a 6-term US Senator from New Mexico.
Last year, Adam Laxalt wrote a letter to US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, asking him to reverse a US Department of Justice decision on online poker and casino gambling. If Sessions took Laxalt’s advice, online poker in Nevada would be banned overnight.
Brian Sandoval’s iPoker Support
Once again, Laxalt’s open letter drew criticism from Governor Brian Sandoval. The governor once again pointed out that it was Laxalt’s duty to uphold the laws of Nevada — not lobby to have the US federal government overrule them. It might have been said that a state-level Republican official should want to strengthen state laws vis-a-vis the fedreral government — not call for the government to trample over states rights and the dual sovereignty concept.
In a November 2015 appearance on PBS’s Ralston Live with John Ralston, Adam Laxalt explained his opposition to online poker. He said that 2011 Department of Justice opinion approving online poker and casinos was wrong, because, “Attorney General Holder issued an opinion a few days before Christmas some years ago and changed that landscape. He changed that landscape without gaming companies, without law enforcement, without all the parties that should’ve been involved to make sure that we can keep consumers safe and all this can be done properly.”
“So, I think obviously in this case we’re looking to return it back to what the status quo was, that Congress passed, and, you know, the other thing is obviously gaming is a different animal. You know, you have, you need to know where the sources of money are coming from and you need to make sure you can police this area.”
Is Adam Laxalt a “Toady”?
One prominent online gambling media source called Adam Laxalt a Sheldon Adelson “toady” for his stance on Nevada online poker. The incident in which Laxalt was recorded by former Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman AG Burnett might have been a more telling instance of that status.
Undoubtedly, Laxalt’s stance will assure him of campaign donations by the world’s richest gambling executive, but that was probable anyway.
Nevertheless, it is concerning for those who want to see the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association (MSIGA) succeed. The MSIGA was signed between Nevada and Delaware in 2015. In December 2017, New Jersey signed on to the MSIGA, a move which holds out of the hope of expanding the multistate poker compact significantly.
Multi-State Internet Gaming Association (MSIGA)
In fact, Pennsylvania is expected to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association formally in 2018. By 2019, the Nevada-created MSIGA could include 4 US states and have a poker player community many times larger than it is right now. That would lead to more and better tournaments, bigger prize pools, and more tax revenues for Nevada.
Governor Adam Laxalt, if that came to pass, might withdraw Nevada from the poker compact. In fact, given his notable opposition to online gambling, he almost certainly would withdraw Nevada from the interstate poker compact.
