The richest man in Vegas has declared war on internet gamblers

The Verge ^ | 6-20-2014 | Adrianne Jeffries

[Citizen Zed]

In February, an attack ad titled "Don’t Let the Games Begin" started popping up in online gambling forums.

The ad opens on two shadows shaking hands in a dark city alley. We see a distraught mother at her laptop, a young child at a computer in a dim bedroom, police cars with sirens. A narrator with a scaly voice comes on. "An established al-Qaeda poker network could extract enough untraceable money from the United States in just a few days to fund several 9/11-sized attacks," he says. "Say no to internet gambling."The message is clear: internet gambling will fund terrorism and destroy your family.

Players reacted strongly, calling it "ridiculous hysterics" and "distortion at its best." "Get a life, Sheldon!" one commenter wrote.

Sheldon is of course Sheldon Adelson, the 80-year-old billionaire casino owner who has declared war on internet gambling, breaking with the rest of the industry.

[Citizen Zed]

But I thought Al Qaeda was destroyed?

[VerySadAmerican]

And billionaires like Sheldon can slip millions to Obama with $10 debit cards.

[Responsibility2nd]

Oxes must be gored. But not my ox.

[Wolfie]

Money is speech, you betcha.

[ConservingFreedom]

Strange stuff:

‘Caesars thinks it’s pure contrarianism. “It’s [Adelson’s] ‘I’m rich and I’m right’ campaign,” says Jan Jones Blackhurst, head of government relations at Caesars Entertainment, which supports online gambling. “That kind of scaremongering … is just counterproductive to the entire legitimacy of the industry. It’s confusing to everybody.”

‘Others guessed that Adelson’s wife Miriam, a doctor who specializes in teen addiction and drug abuse, “goosed him up a bit” about the issue, in the words of one Vegas lobbyist.

‘Some think it’s no more complicated than a grudge. “I am told through the grapevine that Isai’s [Scheinberg, the founder of PokerStars] son was invited to do something with Sheldon,” the Vegas lobbyist says. “Either he didn’t show up or he showed up late. Purportedly he just had this animus toward poker players ever since then.”’

[KarlInOhio]

All the sincerity of a bar owner protesting a newly opened liquor store.

[freedomfiter2]

Waaah, the worthless crook doesn’t want to compete.