Poker Stars & the Gang of 48

In the wake of Pokergeddon (dubbed “Grey Friday” by the online-casino community), a new source of hubbub is the missing $14,000, bread that Poker Stars allegedly laid on nine Democrats in the Nevada Assembly (including, sadly, the otherwise-admirable James Ohrenschall, defender of problem gamblers). Where did the vanished lucre go — and whose reputations will be in flames before all this is over? The 14 dimes in question are chicken feed when set against the 300 grand it cost Poker Stars to buy the Nevada Legislature.

Like Capt. Renault discovering gambling in Rick’s Café, political consigliere to Gov. Brian Sandoval (R, pictured), Mike “Darth” Slanker was shocked — shocked! — to discover 10 grand in the governor’s campaign kitty and returned it forthwith. (Perhaps I’m being too Machiavellian but methinks former federal judge Sandoval was put wise to the Justice Department indictment that landed on Poker Stars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker like a ton of bricks.) It will not elevate the low esteem in which Nevada lawmakers are held that their best defense is to claim they didn’t know it was offshore money. If true, you could sell this crew the Brooklyn Bridge … 48 times over.

(In this respect, the Reel PAC scandal reminds me of a low moment in Gov. Haley Barbour‘s career when, testifying before the U.S. Senate years and years ago, he was asked by then-Sen. Fred Thompson [R-TN] how — if he was sitting on the deck of yacht in Hong Kong harbor, dickering with a citizen of Taiwan — he could not know he was soliciting foreign money. But that’s enough time spent on Memory Lane for now.)

State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford (D, left) could live for a year off his Poker Stars payday and his opposite number in the Assembly, John Ocuguera (R), did nearly as well. I’m glad to see that the much-admired David Parks (D) was not among the Gang of 48 (ditto Bill Raggio [R]) and amused that fungible freshman Assm. William Horne (D) went relatively cheaply, his services had for $7,500. How much did Cantor Gaming give him to push a bill that would flout Nevada gambling regulations wholesale?

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto (D) wasn’t involved in the Reel PAC cash-grab (leaving her political future intact). Not so lucky were Secretary of State Ross Miller (D) and Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki (R), both of whom have been tipped for higher office. In Krolicki’s case, this could nip his chances of replacing Rep. Dean Heller (R) on Capitol Hill in the bud. Hapless Sandoval opponent Rory Reid (D) also took 10 grand from Poker Stars’ PAC, adding to the self-inflicted ethical woes he’s suffering at the moment.

P.S.: Today there’s a reason to watch RJ TV, if only because my Las Vegas Business Press predecessor Xasmin Garza (aka “The X-Woman”) is doing the news-reading. I’m tinkering with some online-TV ideas right now … but I’ll need to come up with something that isn’t visual Sominex first.