Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, in his own words, came out of the closet about online gaming. Several reports in the Las Vegas media last week confirmed what Adelson had told Global Gaming Business one month previously: that he personally opposes the introduction of online gaming in the United States. 

In an interview for the cover story of the January issue of Global Gaming Business conducted in mid-November, Adelson said that he has concerns about online gaming. Global Gaming Business was asked to sit on the news until Adelson was able to speak with American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf and explain his position. The AGA has been lobbying for the legalization of online poker for the last year after its board of directors changed their previously neutral stance. Adelson visited Fahrenkopf in Washington last week to discuss the matter. Fahrenkopf later told his board of Adelson’s position, after which the news was leaked to Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston.

“Officially, I’m neutral,” Adelson told Global Gaming Business. “Unofficially, I am vehemently against it because I am convinced that the technology that would prevent kids from gambling isn’t enough. I see from my own young children, that they know how to get around all the restrictions that any techie is going to install to prevent kids from playing. I am not as concerned with young adults, I’m concerned about children, under-aged children.”

Adelson is aware that many casino executives are pushing hard for online poker, but he doesn’t really understand it.

“PokerStars is the biggest and most successful online gaming entity in the world,” said Adelson, “and the most they made in a year was $440 million. Now, how is $440 million divided up amongst several other players going to make a difference? It ain’t going far.”

Like at other crucial moments in his gaming career, Adelson is bucking the system.

“I’ve been a loner all my life, in making decisions,” he says. “And because I am a strategic thinker, and I’m looking at the strategy of this, I just don’t get it.”

A chance meeting with European Casino Association Chairman Ron Goudsmit at G2E in October cemented Adelson’s view when Adelson asked how online gaming had affected the performance of European casinos.

“He told me that online gaming has had a significant impact on the brick -and-mortar casinos. I asked him if he could quantify it. He said he didn’t know exactly so I said, ‘Give me a guess. 5 percent? 10 percent?’ He said, ‘Yes,’” Adelson reported, indicating that he considered that range would have a substantial impact to the employees of the industry.

“How many people do we (the gaming industry) employ?” he asked. “Half a million people? If 10 percent of them lost their jobs, I think that would b terrible.”

Adelson also believes that it could lead to gambling problems for young adults.

“People who are young adults, who are of legal age, may get online and start getting addicted to playing poker, because they get a lot of peer pressure from their friends,” he says. “And whether or not they’re underage or not underage, I don’t think it’s good for our society.”

Adelson is also not buying the fact that online gaming would be limited to poker.

“Poker will absolutely lead to full casinos,” he says. “If it’ll be a full casino, the business as we know it today will gradually diminish, and get to the point where there’s a break even; where you start losing money. And when you’re at that point, there are a lot of companies that will go out of business.”

A spokesman for Las Vegas Sands stressed that Adelson’s view was, at this time, strictly his own and not the official stance of the company board, which has been neutral for the past several years.

The impact of Adelson’s views will be wide ranging. Many observers considered Adelson the key to the legalization of online gaming in Congress. A longtime Republican supporter, Adelson could have used his good will with House Republicans to get them to agree to online gaming legalization. But he doesn’t agree with that assessment.

“Republicans fundamentally are against gambling,” says Adelson. “Why does everybody say that Sheldon Adelson has got the key?”

Nonetheless, Adelson stopped by the office of Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona following his meeting with the AGA’s Fahrenkopf. Kyle has reportedly been negotiating with Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada on a bill that would approve online poker. Adelson doesn’t believe his influence is that important, however.

“I know a lot of those people, but there are a lot of other people,” he says. “Look, I know Harry Reid. I can’t control him, but we’re very friendly. And we abide each other, even though we know we’re 180 degrees opposite each other on political issues. But I like him, and he likes me. And we have a 23-year history together. But I don’t control Harry Reid.”

Fahrenkopf says Adelson’s views won’t change the direction of the AGA.

“Sheldon has long had concerns about this issue, and it is perfectly within his right to make this decision,” Fahrenkopf said in a statement. “However, the AGA, at the direction of our board of directors, will continue to support federal legislation to allow states to license and regulate online poker.”

The road just got much rougher, however.

By Staff