Wrestlers and Arnold Schwarzenegger Gambling, Poker Connection

Ric Flair recently signed a deal to be a spokesperson for the lottery in the Carolinas... The Shelby, NC Star ran a story noting that Ric, David, and Reid Flair are scheduled to appear on Saturday at the Rec Center for a charity show to raise for the Shelby City Parks and Police Department. If he attends this would be Reid's first public appearance since his arrest last weekend.

"This is of course totally the opposite direction to Jesse Ventura's stance on gambling, at least publicly," notes Media Man, Greg Tingle.

Tingle made reference to Ventura's support of an online gambling enterprise, BetUS.com, where he was a paid spokesperson for more than two years.  Interestingly enough, the state of Minnesota for which Ventura served as Governor, announced last week it will try to block access to online gambling websites from citizens of that state.

Then there is California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a one time friend of both men, who reportedly would support an initiative in his state to legalize online poker.

In November 2004, an advertisement began airing in California featuring Ventura. In it, Ventura voices his opposition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's policies regarding Native American casinos, the very casinos that stand in the way of the proposed poker legislation.  Schwarzenegger and Ventura have not spoken in years, according to reports.

In September 2005, Ventura announced on The Mike Malloy Show that he was leaving the U.S. and planned to "have an adventure". In late October 2005, he went on the The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch and reiterated that he was leaving the U.S. due to, among other things, censorship. He has since moved to Baja California, Mexico.