How Miriam Adelson Went From Big MAGA Winner to Casino Loser in Trump's First 100 Days

[Celerity]

A few bad trades—in tariff wars and in Luka Dončić—plus a gambling-plan meltdown have undercut the mega-donor’s ambitions.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/miriam-adelson-trump-casino

https://archive.ph/KE4KW



One hundred days ago, Miriam Adelson was on top of the world. The billionaire and far-right mega-donor was in the Capitol Rotunda, dressed in an all-white version of a Sgt. Pepper’s coat and her signature round sunglasses, standing next to Laura Bush and Barack Obama, watching her chosen candidate, the man she had spent more than $100 million on, be sworn in as president. Her basketball team, the Dallas Mavericks, was fresh off of a run to the NBA finals, thanks to Luka Dončić, the league’s most talented young superstar. Las Vegas Sands, the gambling company founded by her late husband and fellow kingmaker Sheldon Adelson, was making slow progress toward its long-term goal of building a casino about 20 minutes’ drive from the squad’s home court. Perhaps most exciting, at least from a pure profit perspective, was the firm’s potential to land a license to operate a casino on Long Island, just outside of New York City, widely believed to be the one of the most lucrative untapped gambling markets on the planet. If Sands could secure it, the MAGA queen would have a cash register that would never stop ringing. Of course she was happy. But that was 100 days ago.

In the three months or so since, Trump’s approval rating has tanked as he declared a trade war on the entire world—even on Israel, where Adelson was born, and where she remains an influential figure. Under the leadership of Adelson’s son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, the Mavericks gave away their superstar in what was instantly panned as the worst trade in NBA history. The Adelsons’ family-controlled company, Las Vegas Sands, dropped its plans to build the Dallas-area gambling house for now. And now there’s New York, where Sands spent about $400 million and hired a squad of lawyers, lobbyists, architects, engineers, and image makers, all for a chance at that jackpot in Nassau County. On Wednesday, Sands president Dumont announced to investors that the Adeslon family was ending its East Coast pursuit, after more than a decade of trying. Miriam’s winning streak was over.

Dumont, in an investor call, blamed Sands’ change of heart on the rise of online gambling as a competitor to real-world action. (A company spokesperson declined to comment on the record for this story, and pointed to Sands’ statement on the topic.) Multiple sources familiar with the situation tell Vanity Fair that’s only a partial answer. Politics was one of several other factors. Adelson wasn’t the only Trump superfan trying to bid in this cobalt blue state. But she was the most visible. The president’s erratic, extreme first 100 days only made any highlighting of that connection more uncomfortable, pushing get-along moderates like Governor Kathy Hochul to reposition themselves as hell-no resistors. In that way, Adelson’s big bet on Trump may have helped spoil her even bigger bet on New York. “Not a fucking chance that Kathy Hochul lets a casino owned by Miriam Adelson into Nassau County, in the state of New York,” one casino industry insider says. “It’s like [liberal billionaire] George Soros opening a casino in Fort Worth. Ain’t happening.”

Technically, the state gaming commission will make the final decision on who gets three casino licenses in the New York City region later this year. “The governor isn’t getting involved in the process whatsoever, and anyone claiming otherwise is just lying,” says one senior Democrat in Albany, the state capital. Hochul’s office directed Vanity Fair to similar pledges by the governor to stay hands-off. But even getting the chance to bid requires getting approval from local politicians. Sands long ago hired former Democratic governor David Paterson to help the famously Republican Adelsons in their New York casino quest. (“There was a lot of chatter that we were Republicans, we were Trumpers, we were, you know, blah, blah, blah,” one source familiar with the matter says. “So Paterson softens some of that.”) Former Michael Bloomberg spokesperson Michael Levoff also became SVP of public affairs and strategy at Sands, which retained the services of a number of outside PR and lobbying gurus, including Stu Loeser, another Bloomberg alum and the former communications director for Chuck Schumer.

snip

[MagickMuffin]

1. Texas isn't a gambling state at least not concerning casinos

Until the billionaires insist on it, then the laws will change. And the place in Dallas where they are wanting to use would become more of a traffic nightmare.

[malaise]

2. Good

Eff her

[hatrack]

3. Good. Fuck her.

Fuck her money, her connections, her influence and her businesses.

Fuck her enablers, her family, her lawyers, her aspirations and her entourage.

[UTUSN]

4. K&R

[tanyev]

5. Aww, si tragique.

[Beausoleil]

6. Can't believe these idiots traded Luka

Extremely stupid trade. Mavericks are screwed for the next decade.

Of course, if the plan was to turn Dallas fans against the team, they can then move it to Las Vegas.

What scum!

[BoRaGard]

7. "Ha ha. Another sucker and loser. Ha ha." - Krasnov (R-Felon-Rapist)

Everything the republicon draft dodger touches turns to shit

[newdeal2]

8. Her other existing cash cow is screwed too

Vegas is going having a big downturn due to international tourism going down into the toilet.

Hope she loses it all and has no more money to give to Republicans.