Billionaire casino boss Sheldon Adelson, who has long tried to get the federal government to ban online poker out of moralism, took another swipe at the card game in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance.
The 83-year-old said “poker is gambling” and challenged the widely-held notion that it is predominantly a game of skill. He said that skill does play a role, but he apparently sees that as negligible.
“They say poker is a game of skill,” Adelson said. “I don’t know how skill can apply to somebody shuffling a deck of cards and randomly giving them out to you. You don’t have any control over it. Can somebody bluff and can somebody place bets better than somebody else? Yes. But that doesn’t make poker a game of skill.”
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Many will disagree with what Adelson said, as the quality of cards dealt breaks even over a large enough sample size. Poker is a game to be looked at in the long-run, not just a single session. If you look at hands one by one, it can be easy to see poker as fundamentally a game of luck.
Adelson gave those comments after being asked a question about daily fantasy sports contests and state gambling laws. Adelson also believes DFS is gambling.
Gambling law in many states encompasses both poker and DFS, so technically poker is gambling under the law, though some have tried to reclassify it in order to circumvent state gambling statutes. An effort like that was recently unsuccessful in Nebraska. A successful effort in Maryland to remove criminal penalties for hosting a home game involved distancing poker from gambling by framing it as social gaming. The law stipulated the game must be among players who “share a preexisting social relationship.”
Meanwhile, the classification of poker as gambling has led to poker game raids this year in states such as Arizona, South Carolina and Kansas.
Back in 2012, a federal court, reportedly for the first time ever, took a look at whether poker is a game of skill. The answer was a resounding “yes,” as testimony included the fact that someone can make a living from poker, unlike other casino games. An analysis of 415 million online poker hands concluded that, depending on the skill of the player, after even just a few poker sessions, skill can “predominate over the element of chance.”
Ironically, a major DFS operator earlier this year echoed Adelson by saying that poker is not a game of skill. The FanDuel executive said in an interview: “There is a lot of academic research on this, what’s the skill versus luck kind of spectrum. The reality is within poker, every time you shuffle the deck, it creates an element of luck that trumps it basically to being much more a chance-dominated game than a skill-dominated game.” FanDuel CFO Matt King added that DFS “is truly a game of skill.”
Sheldon Aldelson, a renowned casino kingpin, has threatened to quit a deal to aid the construction of a stadium that will help in the relocation of National Football League’s Oakland Raidersfrom Oakland to Las Vegas if they don’t offer more favorable terms.
Why Does Sheldon Adelson Threaten to Quit Deal to Construct Stadium for Oakland Raiders?
Speaking at the travel technology conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the mogul intimated that he had negotiated to move Oakland Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas Nevada owing to the fact that there is no stadium in Oakland. Read howSheldon Adelson Backs Bill to Ban US Online Gambling.
The plans are at an advanced stage especially since Adelson has already been able to influence the passing of legislation that will enable the construction of the stadium. However, he is yet to conclude terms with the Raiders.
He laments that the Raiders want a lot and that they are making it difficult to conclude the deal. I can live without the deal,’ says the mogul. These developments are a sign of a potential conflict between the team and the billionaire, coming at a time when everybody was enthused with the lovely idea of a big stadium.
A New Bill that sought to increase hotel taxes in a bid to raise a whole $750 million?
In fact, it is only last week that Brian Sandoval, Nevada’ governor, signed into law a bill that sought to increase hotel taxes in a bid to raise a whole $750 million for a new project of constructing a $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium. But the passing of the legislation stoked the ire of Nevada residents, taxpayer groups and labor unions who feel it is wrong to collect public money for the stadium. Sheldon Adelson Endorses Donald Trump For 2016 US President Election?
Not Going To Hand Over Any Financial Information?
The mogul didn’t want to divulge financial details pertaining to the deal. His representative also refused to say anything further on the remarks the casino kingpin made on Wednesday. However, what is in the public domain is that the mogul has pledged a whopping $650 million toward the construction of the stadium. The remainder of the money for the project will come from the National Football League and Raiders. Check out the animated infographic that shows you the best slot machines to play for real money online below.
It is also emerging that moving Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas isn’t a walk in the park even if Adelson and the team agree on the terms. The relocation needs the approval of about three-quarters of NFL franchise owners. However, there is hope that the approval may not pose a hurdle as one of the influential owners of the NFL franchise, Jerry Jones, a Dallas Cowboys proprietor, has already indicated he’ll support the move. The owners of the NFL franchise are expected to meet and decide on the matter early next year.
An Oakland Raiders spokesman wasn’t available for comment. The Nevada Governor also didn’t return requests for comment.
Why Does Sheldon Adelson Want To Ban Online Poker Play
Why Does Sheldon Adelson Want To Ban Online Poker Games
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