Casinos are upping the ante over a ban on online gaming being considered in Congress, recent lobbying filings show. The Restoration of America’s Wire Act, introduced in March by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), has caused an outpouring of spending from groups either supporting or opposing the bill. Meanwhile, loosened restrictions on political spending since McCutcheon have allowed party contributions to swell, particularly those from one influential billionaire.
All hands on deck
Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has regularly broadcast his support for the ban while ensuring its supporters in Congress were properly rewarded. The billionaire CEO of Las Vegas Sands, the largest casino company in the world, has stated that the fledgling online gaming industry is “a train wreck, it’s a toxicity, it’s a cancer waiting to happen.” Also, “a toxin which all good people ought to resist.” At the same time, Adelson has encouraged the goodwill of the bill’s primary sponsor in the Senate: This cycle, members of his extended family have donated $15,600 to Graham while the Las Vegas Sands PAC has given him $5,000.
Now, the company is boosting its lobbying effort to promote the bill. Las Vegas Sands is set to spend record amounts on K Street this year. The company paid out $290,000 during the second quarter lobbying solely on the issue of online gambling or the two bills that would ban it. That brings its yearly lobbying total to $460,000 — spending in six months just $10,000 shy of what it spent in all of 2008, the year of its biggest-ever K Street splurge.
An Adelson rival in business and policy debates, Caesars Entertainment, is spending even more on lobbying. Caesars owns several casinos, including New Jersey establishments that are licensed to run online gaming operations. It spent $980,000 to advocate on various issues including online gaming in the second quarter, bringing its total so far this year to almost $1.8 million. That’s close to the $1.9 million tab Caesars ran for 2013 in its entirety.
Several other groups are actively fighting Adelson’s efforts as well. Churchill Downs, Inc, a conglomerate of horse tracks and casinos and the leading online wagering website for horse races, spent $95,000 lobbying in the second quarter, mainly to oppose the ban. Meanwhile, Boyd Gaming, another online gaming pioneer, spent $230,000, mostly on the same issue. MGM Resorts reported spending $240,000 so far this year on several issues, including online gaming, which it supports.
Wynn Resorts, the casino empire of Stephen Wynn, has not lobbied the issue since 2013. That year, the company spent $80,000 just on the issue of “international taxation and internet gambling issues,” according to lobbying reports. Steve Wynn, who has also been a major donor in his own right, recently joined Adelson’s side in the online gaming controversy but hasn’t been outspoken on the issue.
But these other players in the debate don’t have the cachet of Adelson, whose consecration is sought by aspiring Republican candidates at his “Sheldon Primary” conferences. Moreover, no other gaming executives have expended the same amount of personal energy (read: dollars) as Adelson to build political capital within the GOP.
Adelson has been quick to take advantage of the loosened restrictions on political contributions since the decision of the Supreme Court in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. In its April 2 ruling, the Court struck down aggregate limits on how much an individual can give to candidates, political parties and PACs, meaning that a well-organized donor can now spend close to unlimited amounts, while still abiding by per-candidate and per-committee limits.
Let the chips fall
Though he did not make it onto our “Most Likely to Exceed” list of well-heeled donors who were near the pre-McCutcheon limit, Adelson and his kin had already spent huge amounts to influence politics by giving to outside groups. In 2011, Newt Gingrich carried Adelson’s backing like a talisman during his hapless run for the Republican presidential nomination. The casino mogul and his wife gave $15 million to a pro-Gingrich super PAC, Winning Our Future that cycle. Eventually, Mitt Romney also gained their support — $30 million worth of it. Overall, Adelson and his wife, Miriam, spent at least $92 million in the 2012 cycle by giving heavily to outside groups.
Still, prior to the Supreme Court’s McCutcheon decision, Adelson was limited in the amount he could give to Republican committees and individual campaigns. Not anymore. In June, Adelson gave $32,400 – the maximum allowed per year — to the National Republican Congressional Committee and another $32,400 to the Republican National Committee on the same day. That brings his total political expenditures (not including gifts to outside groups) to at least $155,500 this cycle. The limit, before McCutcheon, stood at $123,200.
Adelson has also brought strength in numbers, with his extended family making similar payments to Republican Party committees and candidates. His wife Miriam and daughter Shelley pungled up $32,400 each to both the RNC and the RNCC in June; Shelley gave an additional $32,400 to the NRSC, bringing her total to the same as her father’s: $155,500. Miriam Adelson also gave at least $155,500 in total.
Adelson’s stepdaughter, Yasmin Lukatz, and husband Oren Lukatz chipped in too. They both gave $32,400 each to the NRSC and again to the NRCC on the same day in late June. For a fine arts photographer, Oren Lukatz has rather deep pockets– and his political donations have closely mirrored his father-in-law’s. Besides his gifts to the party committees, he and his wife, described in FEC filings as an “entrepreneur,” also gave to Elan Carr, a House candidate in California and Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.), both regular recipients of Adelson’s largess. The couple alone spent more than $200,000 this cycle, while the family of five smashed a piggy bank worth about $670,000 — or more — for various GOP candidates and committees.
