Those of you rooting for the demise of Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson might have finally gotten your wish. On Friday, the Guardian published an article saying that Adelson will soon face graft accusations in a US court of law. If you have no idea what graft is, we’ll let a dictionary fill you in: “practices, especially bribery, used to secure illicit gains in politics or business; corruption.” According to the Guardian, the charges stem from allegedly nefarious actions at Adelson’s all-important casinos in Macau and, if prosecutors are successful, could spell the end of his gaming licenses in…

The regulated online poker industry in the United States has found itself in the unenviable role of being a piñata for Sheldon Adelson, his Coalition to Stop Internet Gaming, and anyone else with a fiscal or moral ax to grind against regulated online gaming. These naysayers usually take their potshots, and aside from columnists and iGaming advocates, the regulated online gaming industry never hits back. One person who threw a few blows recently was Lyle Beckwith, the vice president of government relations for the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). Beckwith penned an op-ed that graced the cyber pages of…

A judge in Las Vegas has ruled that a lawsuit involving accusations of graft and organised crime ties to casinos owned by the multibillionaire and Republican party funder, Sheldon Adelson, will be heard in the US. The decision raises the prospect of Adelson facing difficult questions about his business practices following allegations by a former chief executive of his highly profitable casinos in the Chinese enclave of Macau that a well-known triad crime figure was used to bring in high-rolling gamblers and of influence peddling with Chinese officials. The case potentially has implications for Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands casinos because…

The European Union will not pursue a common gambling framework for the EU, according to European Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska. The Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs reiterated the organizations opposition to a single regulatory approach, despite a seemingly continuous number of disputes between individual nations and the EU over policy. Bieńkowska’s statement came in a letter to Italian Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Mara Bizzotto, who had questioned whether a uniform gambling framework for the EU was preferable following the ban on slot machines voted by the government of the Province of Vienna. Bizzotto highlighted that Vienna…

At a gathering of the nation’s top law enforcement officers today, American Gaming Associations (AGA) President and CEO Geoff Freeman invited attorneys general, police chiefs and other top law enforcement officials to partner with the AGA in its “Stop Illegal Gambling – Play it Safe” initiative to crack down on illegal gambling operations across the country that harm consumers, steal jobs and deprive state and local governments of revenues that pay for vital public services. Freeman spoke at Beau Rivage in Biloxi during the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) Presidential Initiative Summit. “Legal and regulated casino gaming in America is…

The Sheldon Adelson-inspired Restoration of America’s Wire Act, introduced in the House of Representatives by Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), would deal a severe blow to the fight for online poker regulation in the US if it were to be enacted. Just how severe depends largely upon the final language itself, as there are expected to be several ‘carve outs’ before it could pass. But could an anticipated exemption for state lotteries leave a large door open for hopeful online poker players? Delaware was the first state to enact online gaming, and by approaching it through their state lottery, it would seem…