Sheldon Adelson Fails to Ban Online Poker in 2014

This is huge news, so let’s jump right in. For those of you unfamiliar with the topic, Sheldon Adelson has felt like like online casinos and their no deposit bonuses are a threat to his land-based casinos. He wanted to ban online gambling, so he sought support to ban online gambling in an initiative called the Restoration of America’s Wire Act.

However, as we reported last week, time was running out for Sheldon and the Restoration of America’s Wire Act in 2014. His only hope was to piggyback the initiative on the recent spending bill that Congress was scheduled to pass. Among the things covered in the spending bill were funds for the Affordable Care Act, Ebola prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency, the FDA, the IRS, and more. There was nothing in the bill that related to Sheldon Adelson and the Restoration of America’s Wire Act.

Congress quickly passed the spending bill, which probably left Sheldon Adelson a little confused, given that he’s thrown so much money out to support his own cause.

The big question now is: what happens from here?

Well, for the remainder of 2014, we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief, because that issue is done. So what does this mean? Is Sheldon Adelson finished? Has his attempts to buy support for his cause failed?

Well, not exactly.

The failure to pass the Restoration of America’s Wire Act is just a temporary setback for Sheldon Adelson and camp. It does mean that the bill will have to be reintroduced to Congress no earlier than January 2015. This gives supporters of online gambling plenty of time to regroup and reevaluate their approach to the issue.

When the Restoration of America’s Wire Act, or whatever it’ll be called, eventually makes its comeback, it’s fully expected to target online gambling at a state level.

In 2015, Pennsylvania and California are expected to progress with online gambling in some form or fashion. It may not become fully legalized, but the ball may start rolling on the issue. California’s hesitant in all regards when it comes to online gambling, so he may not have too much of an issue there, but Pennsylvania seems pretty set on progressing forward and legalizing online gambling, especially after seeing some of the numbers that rival states put up.

Sheldon Adelson owns the Sand Bethlehem, the most successful casino in Pennsylvania, so he’s expected to have some influence there – but then again, he was expected to have enough influence to get the Restoration of America’s Wire Act passed in 2014, but he failed to do that.

What happens next is anyone’s guess, but for now, we can all sit back and breathe a sigh of relief, because the Restoration of America’s Wire Act is dead – for now.