Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | February 2012 22 I n a US presidential election awash inmore money than sense, Sheldon Adelson was down about US$11 million as February dawned and wondering whether to press his bets or move to a different game. He’d just lost big on former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich in the Republican primary in Florida, and after his man came up short again in the popular voting to choose Nevada’s delegates to this summer’s nominating convention, either the casino tycoon would be writing another check to a candidacy many see as doomed or shift his bankroll to front-runner Mitt Romney, the polished, square-jawed ex-governor of Massachusetts with the country club tan, the blessing of Wall Street and the Republican hierarchy, and a campaign war chest even the eighth-richest man in the country has to respect. With seven more states hosting popular votes leading up to 6th March—the biggest day of the campaign, “Super Tuesday” as it’s called, when Republicans in 10 states go to the polls, including Gingrich’s home state of Georgia and a few more Southern states that might be expected to favor him—Mr Romney would like to put this thing away sooner rather than later. He’s sewn up more than 20% of the 1,441 delegates needed for the nomination, and reports last month had it that his camp, which numbers many prominent Jews, had reached out to Mr Adelson. “There are very few people who think that Romney is not going to get the nomination,” says Nevada political analyst and Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston. “Sheldon Adelson does read the newspapers, In Focus Would be kingmaker—Sheldon Adelson The Mogul Who Would Be Kingmaker Last month, Sheldon Adelson made one of the most lavish individual contributions in the history of US presidential politics. Now, he must decide between continuing to back what appears to be a losing cause, or moving his support to the front-running Republican candidate