Controversy surrounds casino documentary

A US documentary investigating Macau’s gaming industry has stirred controversy over its reasons for being axed by broadcaster PBS.

Journalist Lowell Bergman’s documentary, Bigger Than Vegas, was slated to be aired by the American public broadcaster PBS last year but was killed due to “editorial concerns and concerns about the legal consequences” Bergman told the Daily Beast.

The move by PBS is a symptom of ‘the chilling atmosphere that exists today when you have potential deep-pocket litigants”

The $700,000 film goes deep into the operations of Chinese organized crime figures and money-launderers and their alleged links to American-owned casinos in Macau.

Bergman’s team says the documentary series, Frontline, which owns the footage and funded the film, feared litigation from billionaire gambling moguls Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson.

 

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