Marco Rubio’s pro-online poker stance prompts pushback from RAWA backers

Republican presidential wannabe Marco Rubio has suggested he’d support a poker carveout from a federal online gambling ban, but that vision isn’t shared by the money men behind the bill.

Over the weekend, the Las Vegas Review Journal quoted from a Q&A the Florida senator had with the paper’s editorial board, in which he suggested poker could be exempted from the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), the federal legislation that would ban most forms of online gambling in the United States.

Rubio, who signed on as co-sponsor when the Senate version of RAWA was introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in June, opined that there was “an element of skill” associated with poker “compared with just a slot machine online,” and that was what “distinguishes [poker] a little bit.” The senator’s communications director subsequently confirmed Rubio’s poker stance.

But Rubio apparently failed to check with Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson, the real power behind RAWA, who has described poker as one of “the most addictive games” you can play online. Andy Abboud, Adelson’s point man on all things RAWA, told the LVRJ that “there may be some varying opinions from the co-sponsors, but there really isn’t any push for [a poker carveout].”