What Did Sheldon Adelson Get for His $200 Million?

Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate, has spent more than $200 million in the past few years championing GOP candidates and conservative causes. With Republicans controlling Congress and a former casino owner in the White House, Adelson, the founder of Las Vegas Sands Corp., should be getting everything he wants. But things aren’t working out that way.

The son of a cab driver, Adelson, who’s worth $33 billion, campaigned for an NFL stadium in his hometown, Las Vegas, only to be squeezed out of the deal by the owners of the Oakland Raiders in January. He spent $12 million fighting marijuana legalization in the past year but lost in three of the four states where he campaigned, including Nevada.

One of his most high-profile efforts, to ban online gambling nationally, also faces hurdles. Jason Chaffetz, the Republican congressman from Utah who sponsored Adelson-endorsed legislation to outlaw internet betting in 2014 and 2015, has left politics. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who’s said he’s sympathetic to Adelson’s position, recused himself from the issue after hiring an Adelson lobby­ist as his attorney in connection with the Russia probes in June. Online gambling hasn’t expanded since Adelson started fighting it four years ago, but several states are considering legalizing it, including Pennsylvania. Legislators in the statehouse there have approved early versions of an online-betting bill, yet it’s unclear whether it will be part of a final budget.

Continue to Bloomberg.com article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-12/what-did-sheldon-adelson-get-for-his-200-million