The silence I originally believed was a sign that Sheldon Adelson’s all out push to ban online gambling had come to an end seems to have been more of a temporary ceasefire than an unconditional surrender, considering online gambling has been attacked on multiple fronts this week, and with a much fiercer intensity.
First there was the draft of legislation that would rewrite the 1961 Wire Act and have it apply to all forms of online gambling that was reported by Marco Valerio this past weekend.
Next was the “independent” non-stop social media campaign by GOP strategist Cheri Jacobus, who has been a one woman tweeting machine over the past week or so, firing off all manner of claims and allegations against online gambling and its proponents.
*If you disagree with Cheri you can let her know here: https://twitter.com/CheriJacobus*
And on Wednesday, while everybody was busy admiring Jacobus’s prolific tweeting, we found out that Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling has been circulating a letter written by the FBI regarding the potential dangers of online gambling (the word “potential” was somehow largely left out of the CSIG’s memo) while at the same time Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) was busy sending anti-online gambling memos to his fellow members of Congress, citing that same FBI letter.
Not all of these assaults can be linked back to Adelson, but several of them do bear his footprint, and they all seem to be aligned –whether this was prearranged or just a coincidence I’ll leave up to you to decide.
Adelson attempting a classic military strategy
This recent volley of attacks seems an awful lot like a series of planned minor skirmishes designed not to win the war, but to find the chinks in the armor of the online gambling lobby.
While Jacobus is testing social media for holes, the CSIG is prodding mainstream media and Congress with the help of Congressman Wolf, all the while that potential rewriting of the Wire Act is just sitting there with its eyes closed whispering, “don’t look at me, don’t look at me.”
Social Media will prove a tough road to hoe
It’s doubtful Jacobus or the CSIG will make any headway on social media, considering poker players were among the early adopters of Twitter –evidenced by the nearly universally negative reactions Jacobus 140-character lectures have received.
Not only are there are a lot of poker players and advocates on social media, but many of them are experts in the short, snarky replies that accomplish two things:
- They debunk the bogus claims
- They tilt the messenger
As an aside, if I was the PPA I would bring on Jon Augiar, Todd Witteles, and a couple of the 2+2 posters that seem to have every Internet post you’ve ever made and your high school transcripts on file, and just when the person is nearly beat into submission with logic and sarcasm you unleash Matt Marifioti on them for the coup de gras: Good night Irene.
Mainstream Media
So what about the media? After Andrew Abboud’s bumbling responses in front of Congress it doesn’t look like many news outlets are taking Adelson seriously, but he also faces another problem.
With the onset of legalized and regulated online gambling in Nevada and New Jersey, as well as the major coverage of Black Friday, there are now several prominent journalists that have the background and understanding to refute Adelson’s claims, and brush them aside for what they are –talking points.
Nathan Vardi at Forbes, the AP’s Wayne Parry, Howard Stutz at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and Jennifer Bogdan of the Press of Atlantic City are just some of the mainstream journalists who now cover the online gambling beat.
Watch Congress
I have always viewed Congress as a bit of wildcard when it comes to online gambling; you might think you have a handle on them, but you really never know what they are going to do.
Additionally, while the entire legislative process may seem incredibly slow and deliberate, with enough special interest [read: money] Congress can quickly pass all kinds of important legislation –take UIGEA for example, a last minute amendment to the 2006 Safe Ports Act. And half of the stuff they pass as amendments we don’t even find out about until it winds up in the circuit court of appeals.
So while Adelson and the CSIG continues to test our flanks we have to be mindful not to devote too many resources to these periphery fights, allowing him break through our front line defenses and ram some horrible piece of legislation through Congress in the middle of the night.
We need to make sure that while we are busy refuting claims elsewhere Congress doesn’t become our Alamo.
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