Sheldon Adelson Smackdown!
Added: Dec. 22, 2014
Well almost. As you know, Sheldon Adelson has been on a crusade to effectively bring back Prohibition, at least as far as online casinos and online gambling are concerned. Recall that he stood up on his bully pulpit in 2013 and very publicly vowed to spend any amount necessary to not only prohibit any further expansion of online casinos in the U.S. but to also outlaw the online casino operators already operating.
True to his promise, Sheldon Adelson has been spending buckets of money to support his cause. Money offered up as campaign contributions for candidates to support his cause. With that in mind, the online casino world was all abuzz just recently when none other than the Huffington Post let on that a Nevada Senator was about to take action on Sheldon’s behalf.
According to the story broken by the Huffington Post, Nevada Senator Harry Reid had leaked out that he was on the edge of slipping in supportive legislation into the omnibus spending bill. As a reminder for those who are not political junkies, an omnibus bill is just what it sounds like. An omnibus bill is more or less like a catch all bit of legislation. With an omnibus bill, there are frequently a number of diverse and unrelated topics.
There are a couple of oddities with an omnibus bill that make this issue extremely relevant. Number one, the omnibus bill is a piece of legislation that is accepted or not in a single vote. Basically, either yes or no for the whole package. Number two, because these omnibus bills tend to be rather large there is rarely time available for discussion or debate.
You can see the potential problem can you not? If a supportive Senator on Sheldon Adelson’s side happens to sneak in a piece of legislation prohibiting online gambling in the United States it is highly likely it could pass without anyone noticing.
However, in this case, the cards did not line up for Sheldon Adelson. For whatever reason or perhaps no reason at all, the Honorable Senator Reid pulled out at the last minute. He did not follow through as The Huffington Post had suggested.
Online casino fans throughout the U.S. are undoubtedly breathing a collective sigh of relief. In fact, the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs of Caesars spoke out about this: “. e believe that banning Internet gaming is bad public policy…”
Well said, and maybe, just maybe this will be the end of Sheldon’s crusade. Stay tuned as the clock turns into the new year to see how this plays out.