Religious right rallies around Adelson
News on 14 Feb 2014
News on 14 Feb 2014
Nevada journo Jon Ralston was at Sheldon Adelson’s much hyped press conference this week, called to unveil the 39 mainly religious and conservative organisations supporting his drive to get online gambling banned via a revamped Wire Act.
The publication Ralston Reports lists the organisations here:
But, as Ralston notes, alliances with this sort of group could be a double edged sword – typically they dislike land as well as online gambling.
Interviewed by Ralston, the land casino mogul emphasised his moral objections and hinted that the position of the American Gaming Association, which favours legalised and regulated online gambling, may well persuade him to withdraw from that trade body as probably the odd man out (perhaps with the exception of Steve Wynn, who recently said he thought Adelson was correct in his opposition).
Adelson then appeared to conflate the dangers of online gambling with techno and social giants like Google and Facebook – companies he seems to fear may one day enter the online gambling field and dominate it…presumably to his ultimate disadvantage.
He also lashed out at his rivals and their more positive attitude to online gambling, commenting that Caesars in particular was in trouble financially and that he had doubts about management’s competency.
Given an opportunity to respond, Caesars CEO Gary Loveman told Ralston that 80-year-old Adelson was a self-admitted internet virgin who was possibly not that savvy on the technology or its possibilities.
Meanwhile, Adelson’s frontmen were out and about spreading his anti-online gospel, with former New York governor George Pataki giving his now familiar Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling spiel on CNBC.
See also: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/02/sheldon-adelson-internet-jihad-103461.html
