{"id":13057,"date":"2014-03-20T09:17:12","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T17:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13057"},"modified":"2014-03-20T10:25:32","modified_gmt":"2014-03-20T18:25:32","slug":"sheldons-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/sheldons-boys\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheldon’s boys"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chaffetz\"<\/a>At least one Congressman has rallied to Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>‘s banner, in the form of boyish Rep. Jason Chaffetz<\/strong> (R-UT). He’s introducing a bill to reimpose the pre-2011 interpretation of the Wire Act<\/strong>, banning all forms<\/a> of online gambling. Chaffetz’s spokeswoman was somewhat disingenuous<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cThe issue of Internet gambling, both sides have strong arguments, so if we\u2019re going to allow Internet gambling in this country, it needs to go through Congress<\/em>.\u201d Of course, once Congress has outlawed it, what are the chances it’s going to do a 180, even for Internet<\/strong> poker?<\/p>\n

It’s thought that the interstate compact between Nevada<\/strong> and Delaware<\/strong> spurred Chaffetz to act<\/a>. His bill joins a similar one in the Senate<\/a>. The X factor is how much lobbying (and money) Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> pours into the effort. \u201cAll bets are off. It\u2019s not like the guy has never shot for the sun, moon and stars<\/em>,” one lobbyist told the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em>. Sure enough, Adelson’s own lobbying group chimed in with a canned soundbite: “It\u2019s common sense that putting a virtual casino in the pocket of every American with a smartphone is bad public policy.<\/em>” (Insert sound of one hand clapping.)<\/p>\n

In response the American Gaming Association<\/strong> talked up the consumer-protection angle, invoking the dangers of an Internet-gambling black market. Nevada’s senators continue to try and split the difference, sacrificing all other forms of Internet gambling in order to preserve online poker. However, this may be an all-or-nothing fight, with no room for temporizing.<\/p>\n

\"Sheldon<\/a>Meanwhile, Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> Vice President of Government Affairs Andy Abboud<\/strong> waded into a mine field<\/a> at the iGaming North America plenary session, held at Planet Hollywood<\/strong>. He conceded that online poker should be legalized if public support mandated it but continued to claim that Sands’ own polling showed massive opposition. (Maybe because the polling was pre-cooked.)\u00a0Caesars Interactive Entertainment<\/strong> CEO Mitch Garber<\/strong> pointed out that Abboud was dancing away from Adelson’s absolutist position that all Internet gambling is Bad For You.\u00a0\u201cYou have no idea where the money is coming from in your Macao<\/strong> casinos<\/em>,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

For his part, Abboud offered unconvincing solicitude for tribal casinos that “would be crushed” and for Caesars itself: “[Y]ou\u00a0put your buildings at risk if something goes wrong<\/em>.\u201d Yes, I’m sure Sheldon Adelson lies awake nights worrying about the future of Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>. Abboud also threw red meat to the audience, flinging the name “George Soros<\/strong>” into the discussion (Soros is a Caesars investor) to stir things up.<\/p>\n

It’s too bad that someone as successful as Adelson can’t enjoy his wealth but insists on playing Public Moralist Number One. If he succeeds, he’ll be remembered as the spider at the picnic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least one Congressman has rallied to Sheldon Adelson‘s banner, in the form of boyish Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). He’s introducing a bill to reimpose the pre-2011 interpretation of the Wire Act, banning all forms of online gambling. Chaffetz’s spokeswoman … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,37,6,33,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13057"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13057"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13065,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13057\/revisions\/13065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}