Sports Gambling: Beware of Ted Cruz

Republican Senator Ted Cruz from Texas is running for the GOP presidential nomination. If he wins the nomination of his party and eventually is elected president in November of 2016, it could spell big trouble for the entire gambling industry both for the casinos in Las Vegas and the online gambling sites.

As a U.S. senator, when Cruz had the opportunity to support the casino industry in the U.S. and help increase the amount of tourism to places like Las Vegas, he opted not to and instead he condemned all casinos.

Currently he is running for the Republican nomination and is seeking the endorsement of a campaign contributor that is one of the biggest outspoken critics of gambling online.

Cruz, who is 45, started in politics in Texas during 2003. He was named solicitor general in Texas, which is an important assistant to the attorney general in the state.

He was solicitor general in Texas until 2008. He was elected to the U.S. senate in 2012 representing Texas.

Cruz is seeking financial support from Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate, who owns casinos in China, Pennsylvania and Las Vegas. He is a huge political donor as well.

Over $50 million was donated in 2012 by Adelson and his wife to candidates from the Republican Party.

However, Adelson is completely opposed to online gambling of any kind including online casinos, sportsbooks or any other form.

He was able to get two U.S. senators Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio, who are also GOP presidential candidates, to sponsor a measure in the senate to ban all online gambling in the U.S. The bill is still floundering in the Senate.

Cruz is looking for Adelson’s money and will of course support legislation that is against online gambling, as in general he is opposed to any gambling even against Casinos even though Adelson is an owner of them.

If he were to be elected the next U.S. President, he might go as far as making online gambling including sportsbooks a crime.