Vegas Casino Mogul Rolls Dice for Gingrich in Florida Primary

The ever-talkative Newt Gingrich is mum on the subject, but many of his Florida campaign ads are being bankrolled by a Las Vegas gaming mogul angling to build a casino in downtown Miami.

Sheldon Adelson, owner of Las Vegas Sands, contributed $5 billion to Gingrich's Winning Our Future "super-PAC" and Adelson's wife chipped in another $5 billion in the past month.

Seeking to build a destination casino in South Florida, Adelson is betting that Gingrich will continue to help push gaming across the country.

When he was speaker of the House, Gingrich recommended a substantial weakening" of federal legislation targeting the spread of legalized gambling in America, according to a 1996 Washington Post story.

"By eliminating the subpoena power of what ultimately became know as the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, Gingrich made the commission virtually impotent, allowing predatory gambling operators to totally disregard its key recommendation that states implement a moratorium on any gambling expansion," said Les Bernal, executive director of Stop Predatory Gambling.

"Today, 16 years later, governments partnership with casinos represents one of the biggest policy failures in modern times with little end in sight," Bernal said.

"Millions of American families have tragically paid the price for what ranks as one of Gingrichs major failures as a public official."

Gingrich, Adelson and Adelson's wife, Israeli physician Judith Adelson, agree on more than gaming.

The Adelsons supported Gingrichs claims on Israeli TV that Palestinians are an invented people, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The couple first met then-House Speaker Gingrich in Washington in 1995, when they were lobbying Congress for legislation requiring the transfer of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.