The three-year loophole in federal law that bans online gambling is soon to be closed, thanks to a casino billionaire who has the right influence to make it happen. The New York Times said in a report that lawmakers, which include Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, has introduced a legislation that would shut down or criminalize online gambling. The legislation was said to be originally drafted by a lobbyist of casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, and that Graham received tens of thousands of dollars from the elderly businessman.
Adelson, who is among the richest men in the world with a $38 billion in fortune, is pulling all of the stops to protect his business as onsite casino owners had admitted that the online casino business has already threatened the gambling industry they initially dominated.
Aside from attending political events like the four-day Republican Jewish Committee meeting, Adelson has said to be bankrolling initiatives like the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling to convince lawmakers who have different views but have the same goal to block gambling at some degree. At the other side of the fence, The Times said online poker companies and rival casinos who have expanded via online gambling ventures are attacking the attempts via Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection, which would seek for state-regulated online gambling to recoup lost market share from illegal online gambling businesses.
On the other hand, others have expressed concerns that power players like Adelson attacking their own in the casino industry could seriously hurt the gambling industry's corporate image it has painstakingly created and had been promoting.
Former Las Vegas mayor and head of government relations at Caesars Entertainment Jan Jones said, "It is unfortunate, when an industry undermines itself. This fight is tarnishing the entire industry. You just raise a whole specter of negativity that I think is unfortunate and inappropriate, after we have spent the last three decades with a message that gaming is just entertainment enjoyed by responsible adults."
