{"id":6379,"date":"2011-04-22T15:16:49","date_gmt":"2011-04-22T23:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=6379"},"modified":"2014-12-02T14:40:31","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T22:40:31","slug":"poker-stars-the-gang-of-48","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/poker-stars-the-gang-of-48\/","title":{"rendered":"Poker Stars & the Gang of 48"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In the wake of Pokergeddon<\/strong><\/a> (dubbed “Grey Friday<\/strong>” by the online-casino community), a new source of hubbub is the missing $14,000<\/a>, bread that Poker Stars<\/strong> allegedly laid on nine Democrats in the Nevada Assembly<\/strong> (including, sadly, the otherwise-admirable James Ohrenschall<\/strong>, defender of problem gamblers). Where did the vanished lucre go — and whose reputations will be in flames<\/a> 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<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Like Capt. Renault<\/strong> discovering gambling in Rick’s Caf\u00e9, political consigliere<\/em> to Gov. Brian Sandoval<\/strong> (R, pictured<\/em>), Mike “Darth” Slanker<\/strong> 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<\/strong> indictment that landed on Poker Stars, Full Tilt<\/strong> and Absolute Poker<\/strong> 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<\/a>. If true, you could sell this crew the Brooklyn Bridge<\/strong> … 48 times over.<\/p>\n

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

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

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

P.S.<\/strong>: Today there’s a reason to watch RJ TV<\/strong>, if only because my Las Vegas Business Press<\/em> predecessor Xasmin Garza<\/strong> (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<\/strong> first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[28,26,22,37,35,33],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6379"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15133,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6379\/revisions\/15133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}