Fresh from trying to afflict the country with another four years of Donald Trump, mega-mogul Sheldon Adelson is turning his eyes upon Texas. He’s readying a crack team of lobbyists, including Karen Rove, to descend upon the Lege when it convenes next month. Andy Abboud will head up a strike force trying to convince the deeply “red,” profoundly anti-casino state to legalize commercial gambling. Abboud will be striving where many have failed. Even Tilman Fertitta seems to have given up. There have been sputterings of attempted legalization over the years but they usually run into intransigent resistance from both the horse racing industry and the Religious Right. Not even offering racinos to horse tracks has done the trick. So the odds are clearly stacked against Adelson. But he is undeterred, convinced that there is a gold mine at the end of the Lone Star rainbow.
“We view Texas as a worldwide destination and one of the top potential markets in the entire world. Texas is considered the biggest plum still waiting to be out there in the history of hospitality and gaming.” So said Abboud to the Texas Taxpayers & Research Association. An even bigger plum than Japan was supposed to be? (And Adelson has not ruled out a second run at Nippon.) To keep its options open, Adelson is also dibbing New York City and Brazil. And whatever he presents to Texas solons we fully expect to be larded with pro-Sands goodies, as when he magnanimously offered Florida legislators a bill to give LVS a monopoly on Sunshine State megaresorts (lawmakers declined).
Ahh Texas… The state where the Lt. Governor said senior citizens should be willing to die to “save the economy”, where the current under Federal Indictment and just served with an FBI search warrant on another matter Attorney General is trying to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters from different states, and a state legislator just introduced a secession referendum… Can’t have gambling, why that would be immoral… Good luck Sheldon, wear a cowboy hat… In all seriousness, just delay your inroads for a couple more election cycles, seems like Texas is a changin…
I think Mr. Adelson has amassed enough wealth that he can drop $50 million on an effort in Texas that he probably knows is nothing more than a “seeding” effort. Nothing is going to change within his lifetime (as I recall he is 85ish) but he needs to act in order to have a seat at the table when the Chickasaw, Choctaw, “Favorite Son” Tilman Fertitta, and others unite in their expansion efforts. This helps his company when the market changes, but I think it will be at least 10 years, and maybe more.