If you’ve been paying much attention to the legal news on online poker lately, you’ve no doubt seen Sheldon Adelson’s crusade to stop regulated internet gaming. The chief executive of Las Vegas Sands is so passionate about his self-serving mission that he formed the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling. And the biggest thing to come out of Adelson’s movement: a controversial survey that claims 70% of Americans “disapprove” of online gaming.
Most people didn’t need any prompting to question Adelson and his little survey. But OnlinePokerReport have provided all the more reason to doubt the casino magnate. OPR did a Google Consumer Survey of 1,500 people and asked the question, “What is your opinion of regulating online poker?” The respondents answered with a rating of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning that they ‘strongly oppose’ and 5 meaning they ‘strongly agree.’
Over 60% of the people answered with a 3 or higher, meaning they either don’t care or really want online poker regulation. 29% of the respondents said that they strongly oppose online poker, which is in direct opposition to Adelson’s 70% disapproval figure.
Now I’m not saying that OPR’s survey of 1,500 people is a statistical masterpiece, indicative of what every single American demographic thinks. But their research is already far more legitimate than Adelson’s, given that they actually listed the question they used.
The Tarrance Group did the poll for Adelson, and they refuse to reveal what question(s) was asked. For all we know, the survey could’ve asked “Do you favor online poker, which is more addicting than cocaine and highly likely to leave you broke and penniless?”
It’s also worth mentioning that Adelson’s poll only covered California, Kentucky, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. OPR, on the other hand, appears to have polled the entire United States with their Google Consumer Survey.