Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas Sands chairman and chief executive officer has made his stance on online poker extremely clear, even going to the extent of saying that he will spend whatever it takes to fight the legalization of online poker in America.
That statement holds a lot of weight since Adelson is a billionaire and has an extremely influential group of friends and colleagues who hold positions of power that can be used to slow down and even stop the legalization of online poker in America.
Sheldon Adelson has expression his concerns saying that the online gaming industry is not sufficiently regulated and the technology used to run online gambling websites can be easily manipulated by terrorist organizations who want to extract money from the United States and then use it to fund their terrorist operations against the United Sates.
A number of online poker lobbyists believe that Adelson is more concerned with the fact that the online gambling industry will eat into the revenue that brick and mortar casinos derive and hence automatically become a threat to Adelson’s business. However, Adelson who was previously the biggest name campaigning against online gambling has now found support from Steve Wynn, the chairman and chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts Ltd. Wynn also opposes the idea of online gambling and says based on what he has seen of online gambling, he is not impressed at all and does not believe it should be legalized in the United States.
Both Wynn and Adelson are extremely outspoken about their views and opinions and Adelson went on record to say that
It’s a threat to our society, a toxin which all good people ought to resist
. His extensive anti-online gambling campaign has definitely slowed the progress of legalizing online gambling in the United States but it has not stopped it completely.
After Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey legalized online gambling, seven other states are also in the process of legalizing online gambling in the near future. California and Pennsylvania are two such states who will most likely turn out to be next in line to legalize online gambling.
The Verge recently reported that a Las Vegas insider commented saying
I’ll guarantee you neither Adelson or Wynn have ever been on the internet. I don’t think they understand the world that is there at all.
Adelson will not stop his anti-online gambling campaign and as more states opt for the legalization of online gambling, Adelson will intensify his efforts and continue his fight against online gambling.
