Bottom Line

• GAMBLING. Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. has hired Capitol Counsel to help with its battle against online gambling. The casino is pushing for the passage of legislation in Congress that would ban Internet gambling, which is being legalized across the country in response to a 2011 Justice Department decision that found the Wire Act of 1961 only bans betting on sporting events. Adelson’s push to stop the games is at odds with other major players in the gambling industry, however. Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. supports legalizing some online gambling and has signed Clark Geduldig Cranford Nielsen to “provide guidance and strategic counsel on potential gaming legislation.” 

• FINANCE. BuckleySandler, a financial services law firm, signed up to lobby for the North American Securities Administrators Association. It’s a rare move into lobbying for BuckleySandler, which has only one other lobbying client. The association officially registered as a client in March, and paid the firm $10,000 for its first month of representation to work on “Regulation A” that’s being amended by financial regulators. Thomas Sporkin, a former senior investigative attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission, is working on the account.  

{mosads}• REGULATIONS. Former Rep. David Hobson (R-Ohio) will be lobbying for two clients at the firm Fidelity Investments Advisors, which is based in Ohio. For new client Scioto Properties, he will be working on “rules related to funding of mortgages on residential houses for those with developmental disabilities.” For AmerisourceBergen, Hobson will be working on “legislative initiatives and agency regulations.”   

• TRANSPORTATION. SNCF America, the American subsidiary of a French railroad company, has hired two lobby firms to work on its behalf. Washington Premier Consulting will be monitoring a bill in Congress that would allow Holocaust victims and their families to sue SNCF in U.S. courts. Robert White Associates, meanwhile, will be working on “commuter rail issues related to Keolis America’s contract in Massachusetts.” Keolis is majority owned by SNCF. Critics of SNCF say the company has not properly provided reparations for transporting people to concentration camps during World War II. The company says Nazi forces coerced it during the war, and notes that it gives back to Jewish organizations and Holocaust museums around the world.