Forbes – Anointment of the 2016 Republican presidential nominee is far off, but one thing already seems clear: Sheldon Adelson will have the victor’s full attention. The billionaire CEO of Las Vegas Sands recently convened a meeting in Las Vegas to which likely contenders for the nomination flocked. They covet the massive scale of financial support that Adelson lavished on Newt Gingrich, and later Mitt Romney, in 2012. “Everybody knows that, behind closed doors, politicians often sell themselves to the highest bidder; this time, they were doing it in public, as if vending their wares at a live auction,” commented…

Bugsy Siegel never had to deal with an Internet gambling ban. He opened the Flamingo Hotel in 1946 and launched the Las Vegas Strip, and gambling has held a tenuous position in American life ever since. Now that casinos have spread nationwide and allegedly shed their mafia ties, a new branch of the industry is fighting for legitimacy. Some countries regulate online gambling, like the United Kingdom. Some ban everything, including gambling advertising. Las Vegas based casinos and overseas operators have begun an all-out battle, hoping for an Internet gambling ban. nationwide but carries with it the promise of billions…