The CEO of the Las Vegas Sands, Sheldon Adelson, continues to make headlines month after month as he works to try and eliminate online gambling from the United States. Adelson may be in favor of poker and casino gaming in the land based form, but he does not want to see online gaming taking place and has spent millions to try and plead his case. Back in December, it was worrisome to online poker proponents in the US that Adelson would see his Restoration of America’s Wire Act be passed before the year ended. However, nothing took place before Congress adjourned, but Adelson is now back in action, trying to force his beliefs into reality.
After the RAWA bill was not considered at the end of 2014, many industry insiders said this was not the last we would hear from Adelson and he is back at his old tricks. According to numerous reports, Adelson recently met with republican members of the House Judiciary Committee to discuss online gambling. Adelson has many irons in the fire so to speak and has donated more than $90 million towards the Republican Party so it is not surprising that such a meeting was called.
No one seems to know if the House asked Adelson to meet with them or if it was Adelson’s camp who set up the meeting, though many signs point to Adelson being the reason the meeting was called to create a strategy session and update himself on the aspect of online gambling being banned in the United States.
According to a report at Flushdraw.net, members of the House Judiciary Committee are also connected to list of political candidates who have been found to be working actively against poker players interests. The list of names was created by the Poker Players Alliance and was released in October of last year. On this list, were several names including:
Randy Forbes
Louie Gohmert
Trey Gowdy
Steve King
Jim Jordan
Lamar Smith
Trent Franks
Adelson wants to see his Restoration of America’s Wire Act to be passed so the interpretation of the Wire Act of 1961 will be changed back to its original state. In 2011, the Department of Justice ruled that the Wire Act only applied to sports betting in online forma and not all forms of gambling. With this ruling, individual states had the option to offer online poker or casino gaming and Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey have been offering such gaming for some time. Now other states are getting in on the action and have created legislation that is being considered this year.
However, this turn of events was irritating to Adelson who vowed to do whatever it takes to stop online gambling within the US. Adelson has deep pockets and uses his cash to get what he wants from creating the RAWA bill to getting politicians on his side to support the legislation. Also in the mix is the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling which was created by Adelson as well.
With Adelson’s strong opposition to online gambling, there are also proponents as well. From the PPA to legislators, individuals are becoming involve with supporting online gambling and players are beginning to see positive changes towards being able to play in several states. From California to even Nebraska, new legislation is being proposed that involves the game of poker and online gaming to give players the opportunity to compete in a regulated environment instead of taking part in online in non-regulated and unlicensed sites based in foreign lands.
It will be interesting to see how Adelson plans on continuing his crusade against online gambling and if he will ever gain any ground as additional states continue to introduce legislation to legalize the activity.