Having a pro gambling vote in the Senate like Florida’s George LeMieux is definitely better than having another conservative that is flat out against gambling.  LeMieux being pro gambling does not, however, make him pro online casinos.  This is part of the problem that online casinos face; they are still considered in many arenas to be direct competition for brick and mortar casinos.

Most brick and mortar casino operations, aside from visionaries like the folks and Harrah’s Entertainment, have not yet seen that online casinos are not just a new and menacingly ingenious form of competition, but the future of the gambling industry.  Until the brick and mortar casino find some way of utilizing the enormous money making potential of online casinos, online casinos will always be seen as the new form of competition that is stealing money away from the brick and mortar casinos.

Through that lens online casinos are no longer just a problem for brick and mortar casinos but they become the problem of the government in many states.  Florida is certainly one of those states.  The gambling compacts that Florida has worked out with the Seminole Indians and other tribes bring the state millions of dollars in revenues every year.  That is revenue that legislators like LeMieux are going to want to understandably protect; especially since LeMieux has been decidedly proactive in the composition of some of these deals.   

It is quite possible that LeMieux will see online casinos as a threat to his states gambling revenue and not support the measures put in place by Representative Barney Frank and Senator Robert Menendez.