Dec 4, 2014 -Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino magnate, and his wife, Miriam, contributed almost $100 million to Republican candidates and related organizations in 2012, and another $5 million in 2014. Not surprisingly, the billionaire wants something in return. That something is legislation to outlaw online gambling. But Adelson may have overplayed his hand by putting too much into the pot—and in the process providing a cautionary lesson in why spending so many millions may actually be counterproductive.
It all began in 2011. Up until December of that year, the Justice Department treated Internet betting as illegal—a violation of the Wire Act of 1961. But in late 2011, the Justice Department changed its position. It decided that only online sports betting was illegal; other types of betting like online poker—where most of the online gambling action is—were no longer prohibited. That was obviously bad news for brick-and-mortar casino owners like Adelson who have no online presence. If poker players could ante up in their pajamas, why travel to Las Vegas?
Earlier this year, the odds on Adelson’s online gambling ban looked good. In March, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Jason Chaffetz introduced the Restoration of America’s Wire Act, a bill to make online gambling illegal, and did so with solid bipartisan support, including Democrats Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii as co-sponsors. House Speaker John Boehner appears to have been on board, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was on board, too. (Reid always had a detente with Adelson, given their mutual interest in the Nevada travel and tourism business.) But the bill lingered. Then, a House hearing was scheduled for December. The idea, it seems, was to get it passed quietly. Then, last month, former Rep. Ron Paul spoke out, calling the bill payback to Adelson and therefore the worst form of “cronyism.” Amid dissension among the Republican ranks, the hearing was postponed. The quiet politics of doing Adelson a favor had become noisy. And the noisy politics of doing Adelson a favor are bad for those who would do the favor. Now there was no way to push the bill forward without it looking like the worst type of corruption. If I were a betting man, I’d put good money down that Adelson will not get his Internet gaming ban in this Congress.
