Adelson Continues To Lobby For Banning of Online Gambling in United States

Published on April 30th, 2017 6:45 pm EST

According to the New York Times, a review of recently released documents shows that Sheldon Adelson donated $5 million to President Trump's inauguration festivities. According to the publication, this is the largest ever donation to a President's inauguration committee.

The money, which went towards funding President Trump's $107 million ceremony, has already given Adelson some close access to the President, as Adelson and his wife were seated close to President Trump at his inauguration.

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This donation is obviously worth mentioning as Adelson has made it one of his life missions to see online gambling completely banned in the United States.

There is a great deal of worry that Jeff Sessions, who is currently serving as the 84th Attorney General of the United States, will move to end online gambling in the United States. A number of years ago, a change in the interpretation of the Wire Act allowed states such as Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey to allow online gambling to each state's residents and visitors. There is a real worry that Sessions will revisit the current interpretation of the Wire Act, which could spell big trouble for the limited number of states that currently offer online gambling. In fact, Brian Sandoval, Governor of the state of the Nevada, recently met with Sessions to plead his case for legal online gambling to continue in his state.

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Sheldon Adelson, who is the founder, Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, has spent millions of dollars trying to ban online gambling in the United States in recent years.

With his continued contributions to the Trump Presidency (Adelson donated heavily to pro-Trump and anti-Clinton SuperPACs in the lead-up to November's Presidential election), Adelson is clearly going to try to get into President Trump's ear to try to ban online gambling in the United States.

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There are a number of interests who want to prevent Adelson from finding success in his anti-online gambling efforts, especially the three states (Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey) that are already generating revenues from online gaming.

That being said, Adelson is an enormously wealthy and powerful man who is dead set on banning online gambling in the United States. The fact that Adelson continues to cozy up to President Trump should have all proponents of legal and regulated online gaming in the United States alarmed.

Source: Trump Inaugural Drew Big Dollars From Donors With Vested Interests

HT: Online Poker Report: Reporting Questions Link Between Adelson's Trump Donations, Push for Federal Online Gambling Ban

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Filed Under: Poker Legal Issues