January 31st, 2015
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#1
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Bread and Circuses
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Jewed Faggot States of ApemuriKa
Posts: 6,666
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Adelson Visits DC to Reboot Effort to Outlaw Online Gambling
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After spending millions of dollars to help elect a Republican House and Senate, Capitol Hill sources report Las Vegas gambling mogul Sheldon Adelson received a private briefing with Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee in the second week of January.
The meeting sends a strong signal that the billionaire, who is one of the most generous contributors to Republican candidates and campaigns—ever, will not retreat away from his desire to outlaw legal and regulated Internet gaming by the states.
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http://townhall.com/columnists/neilm...9406/page/full
Ron Paul Attacks Sheldon Adelson for Fighting Online Gambling
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November 17, 2014 Former Rep. Ron Paul has a message for billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson: Stop using your congressional clout to push a ban on Internet gambling.
"It is an open secret, at least inside the Beltway, that this legislation is being considered as a favor to billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson," Paul—the Texas Republican and many-times presidential candidate—wrote in an op-ed Monday. "Mr. Adelson, who is perhaps best known for using his enormous wealth to advance a pro-war foreign policy, is now using his political influence to turn his online competitors into criminals."
Earlier this year, lawmakers in both chambers of Congress introduced bills designed to "restore" a decades-old federal ban on certain kinds of betting operations. Sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, both Republicans, the measure would rewrite parts of the 1961 Wire Act to limit "any transmission over the Internet carried interstate or in foreign commerce."
Backers of the measure, which may be introduced in the next Congress, deny that Adelson is pulling the strings behind the curtain—something Paul also took issue with.
"Supporters of an Internet gambling ban publicly deny they are motivated by a desire to curry favor with a wealthy donor," Paul wrote. "Instead, they give a number of high-minded reasons for wanting to ban this activity. Some claim that legalizing online gambling will enrich criminals and even terrorists!"
Paul continued: "But criminalizing online casinos will not eliminate the demand for online casinos. Instead, passage of this legislation will likely guarantee that the online gambling market is controlled by criminals. Thus, it is those who support outlawing online gambling who may be aiding criminals and terrorists."
Paul, known for his libertarian views, has long opposed federal legislation limiting online gambling, but his charge of "cronyism" against Adelson may be his sharpest comments yet on the issue.
His salvo seizes on a narrative that has percolated in Washington since Adelson launched his Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling late last year, amid a growing movement in statehouses across the country to lower restrictions on Internet betting. A representative of Adelson's group, when asked for comment on Paul's remarks, pointed to a cartoon it released earlier this year deriding Internet gambling as "the most aggressive government intrusion into Internet regulation ever contemplated."
Pro-gambling groups have frequently accused Adelson of single-handedly funding a campaign against online gambling, a reputation the octogenarian political mega-donor has done little to refute. He has vowed to "spend whatever it takes" to stop online gambling, which he has described as a menace to families and "a societal train wreck waiting to happen."
Paul additionally likened government control of online betting to domestic spying programs that "threaten all of our liberties."
"Government bureaucrats will use this new authority to expand their surveillance of the Internet activities of Americans who have no interest in gambling, just as they used the new powers granted by the Patriot Act to justify mass surveillance," Paul said, referring to the post-9/11 law that drastically expanded the government's counterterrorism spying programs.
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http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/...bling-20141117
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