In a story that merges many controversial issues, from the legality of online poker to super PACs to human rights violations, the developments surrounding Sheldon Adelson has been an interesting and unavoidably important issue over the last few months.
It started when Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands Casino and Hotel, declared this past December that he was against the legalization of online poker. A strong backlash ensued from the online poker community who realized how high the stakes were on this. Adelson, the 8th wealthiest man in America according to Forbes, had strong legislative ties, even before recent developments—in fact, he had the single strongest tie one could have to the US legislative branch, being associated with the House Majority Leader (R) Eric Cantor.
Much of the online poker world declared Adelson’s being “morally opposed” to this legislation hypocritical. They rallied for boycotts of the Sands, Venetian and Palazzo and many blew up the Venetian Facebook page and e-mail inbox as a demonstration.
But the stakes really mounted when it came out that Adelson is a close friend and the main financial backing of Newt Gingrich. In fact, Adelson’s financial influence of the Republican candidate was summed up in a Washington Post report in quite lofty superlatives saying, “Perhaps no other major presidential candidate in recent times has had his fortunes based so squarely on the contributions of a single donor, as Gingrich has on Adelson.”
These contributions include $5 million just over the last month alone, a sway so massive that it has only recently become possible through the inaugural campaign year of the super PAC.
Adelson is not exactly a man who is not expected to use his clout, either. He is alleged to have influenced the delay of a human rights resolution just to avoid hurting China’s chance at a bid for the 2008 olympics—a move that put him in good enough standing with the country to win his own bid to establish the Sands Casino brand in Macao.
His irascibility even reached mild internet fame when a video of one of his depositions was released to the media showing him demanding for the proceedings to happen on his home territory. One of the climaxes (emphasis, this is only one of the climaxes of the video) takes place when he gets frustrated over the questioning attorney placing a box of Adelson’s documents on the ground, so he asks for a break and returns with an armed body guard. The body guard even refuses to answer whether or not his weaponry is automatic.
Gingrich, meanwhile, has carried South Carolina, the state that has decided every Republican candidate of the last 30+ years. Such a strong influence from a man who wishes to quell progress on online poker on such a heavy hopeful for the executive branch is simply the single most important issue surrounding the legality of online poker this voting season.