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Forbes.com’s Nathan Vardi argued on Tuesday that casino billionaire and mega GOP donor Sheldon Adelson is now winning his war against Internet gambling.
It was a war mounted last fall that included slickly produced so-called public service messages coupled with lobbying efforts from some big name former politicians the likes of one time New York Governor George Pataki and former Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln.
Then came a bill his lobbyists helped draft that would essentially ban online gambling at the federal level, including poker.
Vardi writes:
Adelson appears to be winning his war against online gambling. In the fall of 2013, proponents of online gambling felt the wind at their back with states like New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada launching regulated online gambling and high expectations that big revenues and tax receipts generated in New Jersey would push other states to embrace online gambling. But as of June, online gambling efforts in key states like California appear to be stalled and the best that online gambling supporters can say about the federal level is that Adelson is no closer to implementing a federal online gambling ban than they are to pushing through a federal regulatory regime for online gambling.
Adelson appeared to be going it alone until another casino billionaire, Steve Wynn, changed his position and began supporting Adelson’s initiative.
The real sign that Adelson is winning?
Last week the American Gaming Association announced it would no longer be pushing for legalized online gambling in the US, thus provided a serious blow to proponents of the movement.
Vardi writes:
The AGA’s active backing of online gambling, which began in March 2010, had created a serious split among the group’s most important members—with Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands on one side and Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts on the other. People familiar with the matter say the change not only stopped AGA’s efforts in Washington, but also derailed plans to support online gambling on the state level.
Whether Adelson can muster up enough political support during an election year remains to be seen. So far, only a handful of politicians, mostly Republicans, have backed the Web gambling prohibition bill introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT).
What cannot be overlooked are the horrible numbers coming out of New Jersey, and this has nothing to do with Adelson's efforts. Since launching in late November, online gambling is on pace to generate a mere $12 million this fiscal year, a fraction of the $180 million initially forecast by NJ Governor Chris Christie. In Nevada, a state with a much smaller population, legalized Internet gambling has all but been forgotten with only two sites online generating nominal numbers.
States like California, New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois – all of which are considering legalizing Internet gambling as a means of mitigating fiscal woes – may begin to have second thoughts.
- Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com
