ï»¿RAWA Sp<span id="more-6532"></span>onsor Lindsey Graham Considers 2016 Presidential Run

Lindsey Graham for President? The web gambling opponent has created a committee that will gauge whether a 2016 GOP run that is presidential be viable.

Lindsey Graham, the Republican Senator for sc, who, along with Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), is co-sponsor of Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), is weighing the opportunities for a 2016 run during the presidency.

Graham this week established a committee known as ‘Security Through Strength’ that will explore whether a bid for the GOP presidential nomination is viable.

‘What I’m looking at is, is there a pathway ahead on the floor in Iowa and New Hampshire for the guy like me? I have no idea until We look,’ said Graham.

Graham’s RAWA bill, if passed, would effortlessly ban all forms of online gambling at a federal level, aside from horse racing betting and fantasy sports. No exemptions is designed for the states that have previously legalized and managed Internet gaming within their borders, making its passage seem like a shot that is long most useful.

And Graham is not the opponent that is only of gambling with his eyes regarding the candidacy. Previous ny Governor George Pataki, co-chair of Sheldon Adelson’s Coalition to cease Web Gambling, announced earlier this thirty days that he is ‘seriously considering’ a run.

Backed by Adelson

Both men may be emboldened by the chance of backing and campaign efforts from Adelson, who may have donated over $100 million to causes that are republican the years.

In 2011, the LVS chairman and his spouse Miriam Ochsorn donated $15 million towards the pro-Gingrich political action committee ‘Winning Our Future,’ while Mitt Romney was the recipient (to no avail, of course) of Adelson’s help in 2012, to your tune of $30 million. Romney has said he will not seek a 2016 presidential campaign spot this go round.

Graham, meanwhile, had shown little interest in the online gambling question until 2013, when Adelson and Ochsorn cut $15,600 in checks for his campaign for reelection to Congress. Graham is also known to have attended a fundraising party at Adelson’s house.

Meanwhile, a report from townhall.com suggests Adelson recently met with a combined number of Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill to renew his efforts to have online gambling banned in america. The briefing that is private members of the House Judiciary Committee, including Chaffetz, was described by sources as both a strategy meeting as well as an update.

RAWA on the Rise

Only at that week’s confirmation hearing for Loretta Lynch, Graham quizzed the Attorney General candidate on her feelings toward on the web gambling, and in specific the DoJ’s 2011 legal opinion on the Wire Act, which effectively launched the door for state-by-state regulation. Lynch nicely sidestepped issue.

Both Graham and Chaffetz have returned to this new session of Congress with additional political capital than they held year that is last. Graham is now play titanic slot machine for free a known member of the Republican majority and Chaffetz was recently made chairman of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee.

Graham is a policy that is foreign who matters Senator John McCain as one of his closest allies. Announcing their intention to run, he cited the battle against Islamic extremism as their top concern.

He joins a summary of more than 15 Republicans who are considering running for president, including A bush that is third dynasty in former Florida governor, Jeb Bush. Meanwhile, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, under whose administration online gambling has been legalized in the Garden State, has also been linked with a push for the GOP candidacy.

Paul Phua has Sports Betting Conviction in Malaysia

Paul Phua had been arrested in Malaysia for his role in a soccer betting ring back in 2004, says the country’s press. Meanwhile, he awaits test in the United States having been arrested at Caesars Palace in June. (image: cardplayer.com)

Paul Phua, the high-stakes poker player that is standing trial in the US accused of masterminding a World Cup wagering operation from Caesars Palace, has a conviction in Malaysia for exactly the same offense, it has emerged.

Malaysian media reported this week that Phua had been arrested in 2004 for his participation in a ring that is betting in the European Champion soccer competition of the year.

In line with the Malaysiakini newspaper, Phua received a sizable fine and left the national country for Vietnam soon afterward, allegedly to escape those have been owed money after the operation was busted.

He had been barred from entering Malaysia, where on line gambling was strictly prohibited during the soccer World Cup in 2008.

The Phua case has gotten a complete lot of publicity in Malaysia, due mainly to those things of country’s Residence Affairs Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

In December Zahid wrote to Deputy Director associated with FBI Mark Giuliano to refute allegations that Phua was a member of the 14K Triads, inspite of the FBI having been informed of his connections towards the notorious organized crime group by Malaysian police in 2008.

Political Stink

Within the letter, which ended up being later on submitted as a court document by Phua’s defense team, Zahid stated that Phua had, in days gone by, assisted the Government of Malaysia on ‘projects affecting our national security,’ and as such the government had been ‘eager for him to return to Malaysia.’

However, the letter ended up being considered to be a breach that is serious of and the federal government asked that it is withdrawn from court records.

Phua had been arrested with eight other people, including his son Darren and fellow high-stakes player Richard Wong, in June after an FBI procedure on three of Caesars’ luxury villas unearthed what was described as ‘an illegal wire room,’ the hub of the multi-million-dollar online World Cup betting operation.

Investigators switched off internet access to the rooms and posed as technical repairmen to be able to gain access to the villas and evidence that is gather.

The defense team has asked that this evidence is struck from the record as they believe it had been obtained illegally and with out a search warrant, and so violates the defendants’ Fourth Amendment rights.

Macau Bribe Allegation

Five of Phua’s associates plead guilty and had been sentenced to probation that is unsupervised fines, while Paul and Darren Phua maintain their innocence.

Just weeks before they were arrested in Las Vegas Phua was one of 22 individuals arrested in Macau in what authorities there called the biggest unlawful recreations betting breasts on record.

Prosecutors in the US believe that Phua bribed local police in order to secure his launch, permitting him to fly to Vegas to keep operations since the 2014 World Cup, the greatest sports betting occasion in history, gathered momentum.

The trial is currently delayed while the judge assesses whether evidence collected through the FBI’s covert surveillance operation is admissible in court.

Las Vegas Sands Corp Reports Record Revenue

The cat that got the cream: Sheldon Adelson’s LVS states record revenues regardless of the lull that is financial Macau. (Image: telegraph.co.uk)

Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS) reported accurate documentation of net revenue this week year.

Despite falling profits in Macau as the region faces an intense tightening of financial controls from mainland China; and despite a suspected Iranian cyber-attack in February that did untold monetary damage to the business’s systems; and despite unsteady share prices in the second section of the year, Sheldon Adelson’s casino giant is rude health.

LVS stated that its revenue that is net increased 6 percent on final 12 months to unprecedented a lot of $14.58 billion.

Comparison this with Caesars Entertainment, which has lost cash each year since 2009, while struggling to repay the attention on its industry-high $20 billion-plus debt, as it tries to place its primary working unit it into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Macau ‘Still Wonderful’

Unlike LVS, Caesars failed to spend money on Macau when the spot launched it self up to foreign operators, and also this is where the earnings are coming from, despite the softening of the area’s gaming market.

‘ The Macau that is new is little different than the old Macau, but still a wonderful Macau,’ Robert Goldstein, Las Vegas Sands president and COO told CNBC. ‘We believe very much in this market.’

However, LVS’s Q4 revenues were lower, year on year, due largely to Macau poorer performance into the part that is latter of year. LVS, which includes four casinos in Macau, said the Sands Asia business reported a 16 per cent decline in net income to $2.12 billion, and the Venetian Macao saw net revenue tumble by 23 per cent to $880.3 million, but this ended up being offset by lower operating expenses, the business said.

Turnover from Macau still dwarfs the revenue of LVS Vegas’ properties, nevertheless, which took a combined 362 million in Q4. Total operating expenses across all properties were down 14 per cent to $2.39 billion.

Prudent Management

‘The wise handling of our income, including the ability to increase the return of capital to shareholders while maintaining a balance that is strong and ample liquidity to purchase future growth possibilities, remains a cornerstone of our strategy,’ said Adelson. ‘We remain focused on the constant execution of our global development strategy, which leverages the power of our unique Integrated Resort business model that is convention-based.’

This comes as Adelson seeks to redouble their efforts to stamp out online gaming in america. Sources say that Adelson recently came across with Republican users of the home Judiciary Committee in an effort to discuss pushing the issue through during the new session that is legislative.

Adelson has vowed to invest ‘whatever it takes’ to rid the global globe of online gaming.