“The entire world has completely changed in the last seven months, eight months. This is a way for us to come out of it. … We need some friendly competition in the world away from all that craziness.”
—Rod Smith, former wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, now chief brand ambassador for Denver Sports Betting
“The dealer will ask for what the wager is. The dealer will move the chips into the wager area. Cards in blackjack are normally not dealt face-up, but we’re dealing cards face-up so guests don’t have to touch the cards.”
—Kyle Gawthorp, marketing director, Quechan Casino and Resort in Winterhaven, California, on the property’s new contactless plan for blackjack
“It’s not easy to fail at this. I want people to know that it’s sometimes intimidating, it’s sometimes fearful and so on, but at five weeks you’ll be feeling your oats.”
—Sean Sullivan, vice president and general manager, Live! Casino Pittsburgh, on dealer training soon to be under way at a local community college
“Why don’t they test them three days before the Derby or one day before the Derby and if they don’t test clean, just take them off the horses?”
—Angel Cordero, Jr., on Churchill Downs’ announcement that it may require Kentucky Derby jockeys to be in the state 10 days before the September 5 race
“To me, they’re playing with fire bringing them in there 10 days before. That gives them a chance to get sick. Let them come in like Monmouth Park did for the Haskell. They went to a place there, got tested, and within 15 minutes, they got their results.”
—Bob Baffert, Kentucky Derby trainer, on the possibility that jockeys may have to arrive in the Bluegrass State 10 days before race day
“We made a strong proposal some months ago that I thought would get sports betting off the dime, in a way that didn’t invite any litigation. I’m looking forward to restarting those discussions.”
—Ned Lamont, governor of Connecticut, on restarting talks with the state’s gaming tribes to craft a sports betting agreement
“I won’t stand by and allow this virus to cause more pain and more heartache in our country.”
—Boris Johnson, British prime minister, on a decision to postpone reopening U.K. casinos
“Definitely nothing attracts me about the idea. Vegas is where you go to die, isn’t it? It’s the elephants’ graveyard.”
—Paul McCartney, on why he will never play a Las Vegas residency
