Friday, May 9, 2014

Pushing Online Gambling Is Going to Get Even More Expensive

Sheldon Adelson is a billionaire - worth about $40 Billion.  He is the owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation which in turn owns the Venetian Macao Limited which operates The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center...among other things.

Up to this point in time Tribes have been throwing money at California's State Legislature hoping to get online poker legalized for themselves.  I am not sure how much money has been spent to date to legalize online poker in California but I am sure it is in the many millions.

Well tribes better be ready to open up that check book.  Oh, and don't forget to get General Council approval for the tens of millions you will need to spend to get online poker passed.  Even after that heavy lift if online poker succeeds in California the Feds could very well end up making online gambling illegal.

The reason?  Sheldon Adelson.  He has decided to basically go all in against online gambling.  He says he is doing it for the children.  In reality it's probably just good business since online gambling is considered a threat to brick and mortar casinos.

You can read more about it here:

Washington Post - Adelson’s political beneficiaries adopt casino magnate’s cause to ban Internet gambling

Here is one of Sheldon Adelson's first ads against online gambling: