Threat To Online Casino Action From Afar
Added: July 25, 2016
At least that is what the latest actions from the land based casino behemoth out in Nevada by the name of Las Vegas Sands Corporation appear to be. Here is what this is all about, in short the legislative actions in the state of Pennsylvania aimed at bringing in legal online casino action to state residents. More to the point, how these rather progressive legislation steps are in no uncertain terms under what looks to be an outright attack from Las Vegas Sands.
Here is how this is playing out. Start with the fact that as of right now, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation has a rather sizable investment in land based casinos in the state of Pennsylvania. However, in language that makes its position completely clear, the Las Vegas Sands Corp. threatened to pull hundreds of millions of dollars of investment away from the Las Vegas Sands Corp. land based casinos that are already in place in Pennsylvania if online gambling legislation makes it all the way through the legislative process and becomes law.
You certainly recall that the Las Vegas Sands Corporation is run by the infamous Sheldon Adelson. Yes, the very same Sheldon Adelson who let it be known way back in 2013 that he would spend any amount of money necessary to thwart the expansion of online casino action in the United States. Now you can see a local example of this same focus being applied at a state level.
For the record, the proposed legislation is packaged together under HB 2150. As currently written, HB 2150 would legalize and regulate online gambling sites in Pennsylvania, authorize Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) and even authorize the placement of slot machine games in state airport facilities.
According to Mark Juliano, the CEO of the largest land based casino complex in Pennsylvania named the Sands Bethlehem, full passage of HB 2150 will result in Las Vegas Sands Corporation to put a halt on any further expansion of gambling sites in the state. Interestingly, pay attention to the fact that the CEO stated that there would be no further funding. Does that mean the existing Las Vegas Sands properties in Pennsylvania such as Sands Bethlehem will stay in place and continue to operate?
As you can tell, this is a hot topic and one that will most likely not be settled overnight. All the same, it is actually very instructive to see how land based casinos will take extraordinary measures to protect their turf so to speak.