Forbes – In November George Soros, John Paulson and Leon Cooperman, three of the most successful hedge fund managers ever, quietly participated in a rights offering and became major shareholders in Caesars Acquisition Co., a spinoff from casino company Caesars Entertainment CZR -1.94% that has ownership in Caesars’ online gambling assets.
Their stakes–previously unreported–are all part of an unprecedented bet on the future of the $60 billion casino business in America, as states from New Jersey to Delaware and Nevada legalize a practice that the Department of Justice said was illegal just two years ago. They were joined by billionaire private equity managers Leon Black, David Bonderman, Marc Rowan and Joshua Harris, whose two respective buyout firms are the biggest shareholders in Caesars Entertainment and doubled down by investing a combined $484 million in Caesars’ online gambling vehicle.
Already a roster of billionaires, from brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who control the Ultimate Fighting Championship, to MGM Resorts biggest shareholder, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, are betting big on online gambling’s comeback.
There’s just one problem with all of this: Sheldon Adelson. The very week that Caesars’ online gambling play started trading on the Nasdaq, Adelson, the nation’s fifth-richest man–and one of the country’s biggest political donors–thanks to his vast casino holdings, unleashed an army of lawyers and lobbyists on Washington and state capitals, telling FORBES he will “spend whatever it takes” to stop online gambling in America.
His advocacy group–the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling–is already up and running, and is working to get state attorneys general to sign a petition against online gambling. He’s hired former New York governor George Pataki, together with former Arkansas senator Blanche Lincoln and former Denver mayor Wellington Webb to lead the lobbying effort. “There is no reason to put a casino on everybody’s kitchen table, in the bed of every young person, whether they are underage or of age, or on mobile phones,” says Adelson. “I don’t want people to get addicted.”
