Adelson to testify against online gambling
Adelson offers to testify against online
Sheldon Adelson has announced that he’s “prepared” to testify to Congress that he’s opposed to the legalization of online gaming. The billionaire casino owner with the biggest poker card rooms in Las Vegas outside of the annual World Series of Poker, is strongly against online gambling, including poker.
In early December of last year, the 78-year-old came out publicly to say he doesn’t think the technology exists to prevent underage players.
On Friday, the American Gaming Association (AGA), which is fully behind legalization at the federal level, declined to comment on Adelson, however for the AGA this is problematic having one of their biggest operators so opposed to online gambling.
Lawyer I. Nelson Rose, who testified on Internet gaming before Congress in early February, doesn’t see Adelson making much of a difference.
“Casino insiders know Adelson’s politics,” Rose said. “He is so conservative and such an avid Republican that he blames President Obama for the Las Vegas recession, which started under President Bush. But now everyone knows that he supports Newt Gingrich, which means his political opinions are irrelevant.”
Adelson’s views on the Internet are in stark contrast to other members of the commercial gaming industry, many of whom are pushing for Congress to act.
In November, a House subcommittee facilitated discussion on the issue, which featured AGA President Frank Fahrenkopf and Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Mark Lipparelli.
Lipparelli is at the helm of Nevada’s efforts to establish the nation’s first intrastate online poker industry — made easier by the Department of Justice flip-flop on a decades-old law that is riddled with ambiguities. Online gaming can now become available to residents and visitors of a state.
While Adelson could testify in Washington D.C. against online gaming, the activity has already become legal in the Silver State and could be elsewhere in 2012. California, Iowa, New Jersey and Mississippi are also taking a serious look at real-money gaming in cyberspace.
