Harrah’s seems a little desperate right now. With chances of online gambling legislation passing in the U.S. continuing to dwindle, Harrah’s threw one last Hail Mary. The move is unlikely to do anything but throw some of their money away, but in desperate times, you have to try something, even if it isn’t likely to work.

Harrah’s Entertainment has contributed $75,000 to the Patriot Majority Political Action Committee, a group dedicated to getting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid re-elected. Harrah’s hope is that the money will help do two things: help Reid keep his job and convince him to approve of online gambling in the U.S. If the money only does one of the two things (or neither), then the money will have been wasted.

While most Las Vegas casinos oppose online gambling, feeling that it is a competitor that would take money away from them, Harrah’s was the first to come around. Taking an “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach, the casino chain decided to open their own online casinos. Those online gambling websites are not available to American customers and only operate in regulated online gambling jurisdictions. Harrah’s is hoping that the passing of regulation in the U.S. would drastically increase their online customer base. With millions already invested in online gambling, they have a lot to lose.

There are three major problems facing them, though. Firstly, Harry Reid, who is both Nevada’s representative in the Senate and the Majority Leader, opposes online gambling. He has said many times that he does not support any gambling regulation bill present on Congress. Being a sleazy politician, it only takes money to change Reid’s mind on a subject he has a “firm” stance on, but I’m not sure if $75,000 is enough. The second major problem is that there’s a good chance Reid will be unemployed soon. Polls show that he is deadlocked with conservative Republican Sharron Angle, who is sure to hit even harder on Reid’s liberal record on the tail end of her campaign. The third and biggest problem is that, with Congress in recess, the only chance for the gambling legislation to pass this year is for it to pass during a lame duck session, which seems unlikely. With all of that working against Harrah’s, it makes you wonder why they don’t wait until January and start trying to influence the winner of the election.

Tags: Harrah's Entertainment, Harry Reid, online gambling legislation, U.S. online gambling

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