Adelson winning one-sided war

Sheldon pashaIf it appears that Sheldon Adelson is rolling to victory in his jihad against Internet gambling, it’s primarily because his opposition has gone belly-up. First, MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren called the battle “a fight we cannot win,” then American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman waved the white flag. Now Caesars Entertainment is shopping a bill around Capitol Hill whereby it would surrender its Internet casinos in return for being allowed to keep Internet poker. That’s weak.

Meanwhile, Adelson continues ramping up the rhetoric. At the annual meeting of Las Vegas Sands‘ shareholders, he pushed the panic button again. “Once the employment of land-based casinos is done away with by Internet casinos, they can’t be replaced,” El Bombastico proclaimed, sounding like a stable owner panicking at the sight of horseless carriages. It’s the end of the world as we know it! (With profit having gone up 36% in 1Q14, what’s Adelson got to worry about?)

nikki_haleyIn a remarkable display of persuasiveness, Adelson has gotten a quartet of Republican governors to surrender their states’ rights on the issue: Rick Scott (FL), Mike Pence (IN), Rick Perry (TX) and Nikki Haley (S.C., right). On the other hand, Adelson may not need to do anything. The online poker market is showing signs of exhaustion in Europe. Right here, the opportunity to play online has produced disappointing results, taking much of the wind out of further legalization’s sails.

The latest impasse is in California, where notoriously bad actor PokerStars has paired with the Morongo Band of Mission Indians to demand a ‘PokerStars or nothing’ pathway to Internet gambling in the Golden State. This upsets a 13-tribe compromise that would have kept PokerStars on the sidelines. It’s difficult to believe, knowing what we do, that California Internet gambling could generate $845 million in revenue but big numbers like that are a convenient shibboleth for Sheldon Adelson to brandish as he rallies his troops. The big irony is that Internet could waste away from underperformance, without Sheldon having to lift a pinkie. But just try telling him that.

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