Do As I Say, Not As I Do!
Added: Dec. 15, 2014
Or so seems to be the message from one of the most vocal opponents of the expansion of online casinos in the United States. By now you are most likely up to speed on what’s going on in the United States with respect to allowing more online gambling operations. Some have even begun to refer to this seemingly never ending back and forth saga as the War to End All Wars.
As you probably know, on one side of the aisle are those that want to liberalize federal law and actually make online casinos legal throughout the United States, subject to State approvals of course. On the other side of the aisle there is the belligerent billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. Yes, that same Sheldon Adelson. The Chairman and CEO of one of the largest and most successful land based casinos out in Las Vegas Nevada. The very same Sheldon Adelson who has publicly stood up and vowed to spend any amount necessary to prohibit any further expansion of online gambling operations in the United States. Not only that, Sheldon Adelson wants to disallow existing online casino operations such as the ones found in New Jersey and Delaware.
What’s up with this guy? Can it be a moral issue after all? He was in fact quoted as saying “…would never enter into the business of Internet gambling, no matter how profitable—because it’s a moral issue for me”. Really? Do you suppose that Sheldon Adelson queried his shareholders of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation of which he heads?
But to keep things in perspective, let’s take a look at yet another statement from Sheldon Adelson. In other communications he let it be known that embracing online gambling is “suicidal “ for the U.S. casino industry. He went on to lament the probable loss of hundreds of thousands of land based casino jobs if online gambling is allowed across the country. Oh, so there we go. There’s the clue we have been looking for. Did you catch it?
It’s right there when Sheldon Adelson maintains that expansion of online casinos is suicidal. Translation: online casinos will pull land based casino players away and divert the money into new online casino operations. In other words, its not such a moral issue after all. It’s all about a possible drain on the dollars flowing into his land based casinos. In essence, Sheldon Adelson wants to keep the pile of dough coming his way and not spread it out amongst new upstart competitors.