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Some Nevada lawmakers to return campaign contributions from PokerStars PAC
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Apr. 19, 2011 | 1:37 p.m.
The fallout over $272,000 in campaign contributions from a political action committee funded by now-tainted online gambling company PokerStars continued Monday, with some Nevada lawmakers saying they would return the money.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Greg Brower, R-Reno, a former U.S. Attorney for Nevada who sought an investigation into PokerStars' political activities over the weekend, pressed Secretary of State Ross Miller to further the investigation.
The founders of PokerStars were among 11 individuals charged with bank fraud, money laundering and operating illegal gambling businesses in a nine-count federal indictment unsealed Friday in New York. The U.S. Department of Justice seized and shut down the American operations for PokerStars and two other online gambling companies, FullTilt Poker and Absolute Poker.
In a letter Monday, Brower asked Miller if PokerStars violated Nevada law with respect to recently reported campaign contributions and lobbying activities. Brower said federal law prohibits foreign contributions to federal, state and local campaigns. He plans to develop a bill that would put into state law a specific prohibition on foreign contributions, similar to the federal law.
PokerStars, which has headquarters on the Isle of Man, a British dependency, made contributions to 68 legislative candidates, constitutional officers, political party PACs and legislative caucuses. The contributions, made between Sept. 23 and Oct. 18, ranged from $1,000 to $10,000.
"I am working with (the legislative counsel bureau) as we speak," Brower said.
Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Scott Gilles said the office began an initial review Monday before receiving the letter from Brower. Reel PAC, which was funded by a $299,970 contribution from PokerStars corporate headquarters on Sept. 23, may be in violation of federal law.
"What we looked into this morning does not appear to be in violation of Nevada law," Gilles said. "We have forwarded the matter to our election integrity task force and we will give it an appropriate investigation."
Gilles said Miller won't be involved in the matter because his re-election campaign was given a $5,000 contribution from the PokerStars political action committee on Oct. 7.
"The secretary will be walled off from the investigation," Gilles said.
Miller said late Monday afternoon he was returning the contribution to PokerStars.
"The check has already been cut," Miller said.
Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, who was given a $10,000 contribution by the PokerStars PAC, said he won't keep any money that came from the foreign company.
"As soon as we realized that there was a question, that this wasn't a U.S.-owned company and was a foreign owned company, we returned the money," Oceguera said.
He also said he would support repeating in state law the federal prohibition on foreign money in elections.
PokerStars gave $10,000 contributions on Sept. 29 to Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval and his Democratic opponent, Rory Reid. Mike Slanker, who worked for the Sandoval campaign, said Saturday the donation was returned last week after an internal investigation showed the PAC had one contributor "who was not an American citizen."
Edie Cartwright, a spokeswoman for Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, said the office has begun looking into whether a foreign corporation can fund a political action committee. While the review is just preliminary, Cartwright said, the initial finding was that state laws did not apply.
Cartwright said Masto and Miller discussed the PokerStars matter over the weekend.
Masto and Nevada Controller Kim Wallin were the only two state constitutional officers who did not receive campaign contributions from the PokerStars PAC, according to the report.
Reel PAC donated $3,000 to Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki and $2,000 to Treasurer Kate Marshall on Oct. 7.
PokerStars, which is said to control more than 50 percent of the online poker market, is the primary backer of Assembly Bill 258, which seeks to legalize Internet poker in Nevada.
Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, who introduced Assembly Bill 258, and Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, traveled to England last year to see the online gambling company's facilities. Reel PAC donated $7,500 to Horne and $5,000 to Atkinson.
Legislative Counsel Brenda Erdoes advised three legislators that it was appropriate for them to take "educational, fact-finding" overseas trips last year at the expense of an Internet poker company
The company hired former Nevada Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, former Nevada gaming regulators Randall Sayre and Scott Scherer, public relations experts and financial experts to help gain support for passage of AB 258.
The nine counts in the 51-page indictment charged the 11 individuals with violating the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Act, which prohibits banks and financial companies from processing Internet gambling transactions. Violations can bring up to 30 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
The U.S. government also filed a lawsuit seeking $3 billion in money laundering penalties from the website operators.
Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871. Review-Journal reporter Benjamin Spillman in Carson City contributed to this report.
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people are just plain stupid,
ya,like as in online poker ect.
its bad enough the garbage is allowed in the states as it is.
gamblers are all scum,just like the scum that paid for sando loser,gibbons,ect
dam nv,duh is dumb
Maybe one day, we as a nation will see all candidates running for office that are not bought and paid for by unions, PAC's, and other self serving (what's the word I'm looking for). Got to remind myself about taking my medication.
They will compromise and stay in tact while the Gov't will get a nice payday. Much like the tobacco industry settlements. They agreed to span the fine over a period of time, so the industry could survive. The same thing will happen here. The gambling companies will say they can't afford to pay the fine unless they are allowed to stay in business and pay it over time.
"some" ? huh ? better, which didn't ? those elected officials in counties with less than 50,000 inhabitants may be exempt from returning the "contributions"/"tokes". that since in the less populated counties, prostitution is legal.
Once Dirty Harry Reid and the DemocRATS figure out how to "TAX" online gambling ---- Poker Stars and the others will be back in business. For a very long time, Dirty Harry has been a supporter of the online poker sites.
I don't get all the fuss. These guys knew they were operating murky waters for years, and they've been fighting like mad to climb out of the dark and legitimize their businesses. They've lobbied congress and others to push for some pro-poker legislation in this country. So be it. And while its true they've failed thus far, and now find themselves in a hell-of-a legal fight, I don't see their political contributions as poison for any politician. If they didn't agree with they way these guys were operating, they should have not accepted the funds when they came in, not once these guys are persona non grata.
This whole thing cracks me up. Reid's been pushing for this for a while and now not a peep out of him. Only now after the cats out of the bag are they all running around "claiming" their giving back the money. I'd like to see the checks which or course we wont. There is so much potential for fraud with these sites it's hard to imagine any decent poker player having faith in the system. The need for some shady third-party software to transfer funds from your bank account to their site. Sure they'll take your money but, good luck getting it back. Collusion among players is the biggest hurdle. You get 9-10 poker buddies with IM or simple phone text and they just sit back and prey on one table after another. Undisclosed shuffling programs & little published internal controls except comments saying, "Yes, we are secure!". They have a long way to go.
Q: How do you spell bribe ?
A: PAC
Will the players of this years WSOP have FullTilt patches over the hat and shirts ? ps. it looks cheap . Gary when is Harry coming to town ?
how can these poker sites think they are legal. you cannot have a home game and rake the pot, whats the difference. all the t.v. superstar players should forfeit their money from these illegal sites lets go get their stolen money also.