Online Gambling Groups Fight Back

By now, you’re undoubtedly educated on the struggle to legalize online gambling. You know that it’s legal in three states, and that there’s a push to legalize it in more, but there’s a massive amount of opposition to it, specifically, Sheldon Adelson and his group of lobbyists. What you haven’t heard much of is how much online gambling companies are spending to fight back.

Sheldon Adelson has deep pockets, something to the tune of 37 billion dollars. He has vowed to do “whatever it takes” to make sure online gambling dies a quick and painful death. He’s hired lobbyists to further his cause, and they’re monitoring every single aspect of the bills to legalize online gambling.

So far this year, Sheldon Adelson and the Las Vegas Sands Corp. have spent $290,000 during the second quarter of 2014 on their lobbying efforts to stop the spread of online gambling, specifically in Texas, Pennsylvania, and California. So far this year, they’ve spent $460,000.

Caesars Entertainment, however, isn’t going down without a fight.

In the second quarter of 2014, Caesars Entertainment has spent a million dollars to promote the expansion of online gambling. In the first quarter of 2014, they spent $1.8 million. MGM Resorts and Boyd Gaming have chipped in roughly a quarter of a million dollars each, which means that companies are out-spending Sheldon Adelson by a 5-to-1 margin.

Keep in mind that these numbers only reflect how much has been spent on registered lobbyists in Washington. With Adelson vowing to spend what it takes, it’s possible that he has something else lined up, but for now, online gaming companies are dramatically outspending him.

There’s multiple reasons for this. For starters, they know the value of their product. They know that not everyone wants to go to a physical casino, and they know exactly how much new business a no deposit promotion can bring in. Reaching everyone is far better than reaching a few with a physical location.

They’ve also seen how much money it brings in. Take a look at New Jersey. They’ve shut down several casinos so far this year, and more will close, but when compared to last year, they’re not losing money. In fact, they gained a couple hundred thousand dollars. This shows that not only does online gambling work, but it drives in more business than land-based casinos.

Really, there shouldn’t be any opposition to online gambling, but here we are. Despite providing numerous benefits, there are still those that want the spread of online gambling to stop. Fortunately, those that run the sites are outspending them. Will Adelson ramp up his opposition, or will he eventually give up and learn that he can’t fight progress?