In today's Gambling Compliance [subscription required], Tony Batt reports that Sheldon Adelson is refocusing his efforts from RAWA toward enforcement of stopping unlicensed, offshore gaming sites.

Perhaps seeking to claim victory while making the shift, Las Vegas Sands characterized U.S. online gaming as a flop. “It is the Edsel of gaming,” said Andy Abboud, vice president of government relations & community development at Las Vegas Sands and a key aide to LVS chairman Sheldon Adelson. “It’s a bust. It’s a lemon. Nevada doesn’t even report [Internet poker revenue] anymore as a line item. It’s just added into poker numbers.”

Batt reports that Las Vegas Sands and "other RAWA supporters" are refocusing their lobbying strategy toward shutting down U.S.-facing websites operating offshore.

“We haven’t backed off of our focus on [RAWA], but we need to find a way...to be able to shut down illegal offshore operators,” Abboud said.

Batt suggested that the hope is that this change in tactics will attract more support from within the casino industry.

PPA Executive Director John Pappas said the role of government should not be to restrict access to the Internet, which consumers are using more than ever. “If Sands is serious about addressing the unregulated offshore market, they should join us in trying to replace it with a regulated U.S. market,” Pappas said.

Can you pleace clarify, does that mean they`d strike on Bovada/ACR and the likes?

can Sheld just go ahead and die already?

If Congress were to pass this proposed law, it's possible the FBI/DoJ would use it to go after U.S.-facing sites.

Hmmm at first glance it sounds positive for us. It sounds like he's been rebuffed so many times that he's having to decrease his demands. However, I have a lingering fear that he's just changed his plans to a two step process and once he has congress thinking "yeah those offshore poker sites are evil", he'll just drop the "offshore" and try to get a full ban. Granted we'll try to do our best to keep everyone informed, but that's not always easy.

Overall, I wouldn't be upset with a focus on shutting down unregulated iPoker, but I'd prefer to leave them alone and let regulated sites run them out of business.

My guess is that Adelson sees a very limited path for RAWA, but a viable one for action against offshore sites. They aren't giving up on RAWA, but reprioritizing something already struggling sends strong signals.

There's also the issue of the clock. Harry Reid leaves the Senate at the end of the year, complicating any backroom deals. That will also mark one more year with state-authorized online poker, further weakening the opposition case (particularly the one for an "emergency" fix for a DoJ decision that will then have been five years old). And, of course, Adelson isn't getting any younger. Will he wish to pour energy into this year after year? We already see a major reduction in pro-RAWA social media, PR, etc. And, finally, how long until a big state like CA, PA or NY moves forward, mooting the issue?

That being said, we're not taking anything for granted. We want to keep this down.

So he's not changing the wording of RAWA at all, is how I'm reading this. He's just changing his political message from "Internet gambling has to be stopped, so we need to pass RAWA" to "Illegal offshore gambling websites have to be stopped, so we need to pass RAWA". It's just a re-packaging of the same bill, in an effort to drum up more support or eviscerate opposition to it.

My understanding is that LVS plans to focus on a different approach that would not involve RAWA, but some new bill. RAWA doesn't go away, though, so we can't take our eye off the ball here.