Is Sheldon Senile?

Hey you kids - get off my casino!

I’m serious.  Years ago, I used to work in a retirement home.  I got to see my share of individuals who were lucid one moment, and then “kinda goofy” the next.  Sometimes they’d be upbeat and positive and speak in complete sentences, and other times they’d babble, not really able to collect their thoughts even if you gave them a basket.

Two recent Adelson spots on Bloomberg (here and here) give rise to my thoughts that serious senility is kicking in.  We in the poker-activist community consider him dangerous because he has a buttload of money (he’s 8th richest person in the WORLD according to Forbes).  I say he’s also dangerous because of his ideas (and his money).  Speaking of money, Senator Harry Reid defended Adelson today, saying that it’s not about the money, but, “He's in it because he has certain ideological views."

And those views are nuts.  Take this statement from Shelly:

“There’s no compelling reason to put a casino in everybody’s pocket.”

WTF?  What does that even mean?  Does one NEED a reason?  Is that really for HIM to say?  And then he follows up that statement with this:

”[You have] under-age, of age, college students that owe plenty of money, unfortunate people, working-class people, middle-class people that will be easily exploited by, and easily incentivized to go on the internet and gamble.  For what?”

Again…what the hell does that even mean?  I interpret this (and some other things he said) to mean he only wants to make money off people who can afford to gamble.  Just like he’s doing now.  Oh, here he is, explaining…

”I want to make money from people that can afford it.  I can't tell over the internet who is underage.  I can't tell who had financial difficulties.  I can't tell who is gaming responsibly.  I can't tell is money is being laundered.  I CAN in the casinos.”

Sure.  I remember being stopped at the door of the Venetian, where they did a credit check on me (because I looked middle-class, which I am…barely).  I must have passed muster, because I went into the casino where I found no clocks and free drinks, and offers to join their “Club Grazie Players Club.”  Incentives and exploitation are OK if you can afford it, of course.  Though I never did find out what the “For what?” was here.

OK, enough sarcasm.  Obviously Shelly doesn't follow his own advice, which makes him a hypocrite, but we all already knew that.  When he talks about his online ban battle, he just sounds like someone trying to throw everything on the wall, hoping that something sticks.  So far, the “money laundering” aspect has been shot full of holes, and the “underage gambling” issue is mostly moot, so, what else does he have?

Money.

The Washington Post noted that he’s already going into the individual states to buy politicians do battle.  There are three very populous states that may move forward in the near future - California (likely), Pennsylvania (maybe - looking better), and New York (meh).  Here is where the battle for online poker will be won or lost.

Betty White is older than Sheldon, and she has it together far better than he:

Keep up the fight - don’t let a senile old man beat us!