Rand Paul Meets With Sheldon Adelson
This past week, Sheldon Adelson and Rand Paul attended the congressional address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They have opposing views on Israel: Rand Paul supports a restrained approach, while Sheldon Adelson supports an activist military policy. They also have opposing views on something else: online gambling.
In an interview with The Alpha Pages, Senator Rand Paul was asked about his views on restrictions placed on online gambling. He confirmed that he opposes such restrictions, saying that the government “needs to stay out of that business”. Sheldon Adelson, of course, wants online gambling shut down completely in the United States. However, after this week, Rand Paul might be changing his tune.
According to various sources, Rand Paul met with Sheldon Adelson, and the outcome was similar to Adelson’s agreement with Harry Reid. If you remember, Sheldon Adelson was said to have struck a deal with Harry Reid several months ago, prior to Reid’s accident. It was stated that Adelson, a Republican, would assist Reid, a Democrat, simply by not supporting Reid’s opponent in a potential election.
It seems as though Sheldon Adelson’s deal with Senator Rand Paul is very similar, and Adelson has agreed to not financially support Rand Paul’s future opponent.
The problem with this is fairly obvious. Sheldon Adelson is looking to gain support in the future. He’s branched out to various politicians in an attempt to gain their support through financial ventures, and even though Rand Paul supports online gambling now, his support for online gambling in the future remains in question.
With RAWA up for debate, it’s not surprising that Sheldon Adelson is making these types of power moves. More recently, he supported the bill to prevent Marijuana from becoming legalized in Florida. The reason? Because he wants the Las Vegas Sands Corporation to eventually spread there. You may think the evidence is sketchy at best, but when you consider that Adelson ignored pro-marijuana initiatives in Oregon, Alaska, and even Washington D.C., his motives become clear. Also, he and his wife are huge donors to a medical research facility in Tel Aviv that supports the use of marijuana to treat some diseases.
Sheldon’s becoming a desperate man. With New Jersey fresh off of having their most successful month in regards to online gambling yet, Adelson’s striking a deal every single place he can. He knows that his land-based casinos can’t compete with no deposit bonus promotions for new loyal customers, and since he doesn’t see land-based and online gambling operations co-existing, he wants to end the operation. The irony, of course, is that online gambling picks up the slack when land-based casinos lose money that month. You’d think that Adelson would see renewed interest in gambling as an opportunity to expand his empire by offering unique games or incentives, but he chose to fight instead.
While their conversation was rumored to be mostly political, you can guarantee that the topic either came up during that chat or will come up in the very near future, especially with the debate for RAWA occurring soon.