Online Gamblers Help Sweep Republicans from Congress

Online casino and poker players helped the Democrats to an unexpected thrashing of the Republican Party on November 7, giving the Democrats control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 12 years.

On October 26, we published an article titled Online Gamblers to Fight Back on November 7? suggesting that online gamblers would likely be incensed enough at the recent anti-online gambling bill to vote Democrat in the mid-term elections, and we suggested that these angry online gamblers might prove the difference.

Prior to the election, well-known poker player and author Nolan Dalla pointed out that online gamblers could play a big part in removing offending Republican representatives from Congress: "Oddly enough, this bill might be worth 2-3 percentage points to Democratic candidates and could be a decisive issue which determines the outcome of the mid-term elections. Wouldn't that be justice if the Republicans were to be punished by poker players for their misdeeds?"

Nolan Dalla's words proved somewhat prophetic as the two US political parties faced one of the closest Senate elections in years. The Democrats needed a 51-49 majority in the Senate after handing the Republicans a drubbing in the US House of Representatives race. They got there in the end by the narrowest of margins, a margin in the final Senate seat in Virginia of only a fraction of a percentage point. The Democrats will now control both the House of Representatives and the Senate after two winning Independents agreed to caucus with the Democrats.

Online gamblers dealt a final blow to the political aspirations of Republican Jim Leach (R-Iowa), a driving force behind the bill that restricted US banks from processing online gambling transactions. Leach did not expect to face strong competition to retain his seat, however the online gambling industry's 'Green Velvet Revolution' helped his opponent (Dave Loebsack) to victory by a margin of only 5700 votes. It is almost certain that Leach would have retained his seat were he not targeted by the online gamblers enraged at his 'moral crusade' against online casinos and poker rooms.

The Green Velvet Revolution also targeted Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) but Kyl survived. Despite this, there is no doubt that online gamblers nationwide helped to secure an overwhelming Democratic victory and have made their voice heard.

One can only hope the Democrats might see fit to pay the online gambling industry back next year.

• 
• 
• Email to a friend
• Print