This week, U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated in his Republican primary election by David Brat, a largely unknown Tea Party-backed economics professor who delivered an immense upset to the No. 2 Republican in the House.
Cantor’s ouster has left many in the gambling industry buzzing, as the dismissed lawmaker was one of the biggest national political figures opposed to efforts to legalize online real-money gambling.
Union Gaming analyst Robert Shore says Cantor even “counted Sheldon Adelson, who publicly sank at least $10 million into Cantor-backed super-PACs through 2012, among his staunch backers.”
Adelson, the Las Vegas Sands CEO and sworn enemy of online gambling, was strongly supporting Cantor in Virginia’s Republican primary.
“Although it’s not clear yet what the implications would be if Brat wins the Virginia House seat, with Adelson-backed Cantor out of the picture the odds could change for legalizing online gaming nationally,” writes James Detar, of Investor’s Business Daily.
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