While the poker industry keeps a close watch on virtually any movement that occurs in the online poker debate in the United States it’s a very rare occurrence to find a mainstream publication looking into the issue. So it was quite shocking to see just how many news outlets ran with last week’s revelation that Harry Reid was looking to push through online poker legislation during the lame-duck session.

The first major news outlet to pick up the online poker legislation story was the Wall Street Journal, and shortly after their piece ran more articles began appearing in other major media outlets including the AP, the Huffington Post, Time Magazine, and even making the front-page of Yahoo News.

While many of the writers seemed to find it comical that Reid would pay so much attention to such a “small” issue; any attention to the issue is good in my opinion. I think once people realize that online poker is borderline illegal in the United States, and that the government is missing out on billions in tax revenue every year they may pay slightly more attention to the issue of legalizing and regulating the online gaming industry as a whole. After all, most Americans are in favor of land-based casinos in their respective states.

Further adding to the flurry of news stories regarding online poker was New Jersey’s Senate tackling the issue at the state level, as well as other states looking at taking the same steps. All-in-all, what looked like a dead issue may be resurrected over the next month and online poker players in the US may finally have the opportunity to play online poker in a completely legal and regulated atmosphere.