A balanced view of the Adelson anti-online gambling drive
News on 21 Oct 2014
News on 21 Oct 2014
Respected poker player and writer Jeff Hwang, writing in the investment publication The Motley Fool, has examined the Adelson attempt to buy a federal internet gambling ban through the US political system, and his motivation for driving his campaign against the genre.
The factual and generally well-balanced article details the moves Adelson has made in his “rampage” against online gambling since it started in late 2011, and serves as a timely reminder of how much money and energy the aging land casino mogul has invested in his attempts to bulldoze the online industry into the ground.
However, Hwang discounts the common speculation that Adelson’s motives are based on fear of competition or unlikely conspiracy theories that he hopes to nudge major land rivals who have supported online gambling into commercial difficulties.
Instead, he appears to accept the billionaire’s assurances that the driving force behind his assault is directly and very personally related to his own early life experiences with an uneducated and poverty stricken father who liked to gamble, and his fears as the father of teenaged children on youth problem gambling and addiction generally.
“His family and addiction are constant themes, and fundamentally are the why,” Hwang postulates.
It’s an interesting and well-argued alternative perspective to the usual assessments, and can be read here:
