“I have great confidence and comfort in the national response to this pandemic, finally, after a series of inexcusable blunders over the last year.”
—James Murren, former MGM Resorts chairman and CEO and head of Nevada’s Covid-19 Response, Relief and Recovery Task Force
“Packer’s exhausted. He’s done. He wants out. You saw that with the multiple deals he’s been trying to do.”
—Unnamed business executive on the future of Crown Resorts’ honcho James Packer, who disclosed in the Bergin inquiry that he suffers from bipolar disorder
“Governments everywhere are crying out for revenue. If you start taking the gambling revenue out, it’s another thing they have got to make up.”
—Peter Morgan, former head of equities at fund manager Perpetual, on the crisis in Australian gaming caused by Crown Resorts
“Her character, honesty and integrity had not been and could not be called into question.”
—Patricia Bergin, former Australian Supreme Court judge and head of the Bergin Report probe, on Helen Coonan, chairwoman of the Crown Resorts board
“That sense of helping one another and providing assistance and lifting up that other individual, it reinforces something that’s very strong in our belief system. There’s a bit of pride in the sense that we’re helping out.”
—Todd Enlow, chief of staff, Cherokee Nation, on the nation’s development of two factories that can produce up to 200,000 face masks a day
“When I was a kid, we were ‘The World’s Playground,’ and we acted like it.”
—Marty Small, mayor of Atlantic City, who said the city needs a better slogan than “Entertainment Capital of the Jersey Shore”
“For years men have dreamed of a resort where everyone would be welcomed regardless of color, race or creed. Today that bold dream has come true in Las Vegas, and it has come true in breathtaking fashion.”
—Moulin Rouge promotional flyer, circa 1955, when Las Vegas’ first integrated casino resort opened
“Let’s just say I don’t see it becoming another venue for selling T shirts and cheap touristy trinkets.”
—Bob Ambrose, New Jersey-based casino consultant, on what could be developed on the site of the former Trump Plaza in Atlantic City
“Really, it is the literal definition of loan sharking.”
—Darren Jernigan, Tennessee state representative, on a sportsbook owned by a company that also lends money
“We are talking of tortured people.”
—Joe O’Reilly, Irish lawmaker, on addicted gamblers and the need to reduce gambling ads at sporting events
“I believe that we can change anybody’s mind if we do it effectively.”
—Andy Abboud, senior VP for governmental affairs, Las Vegas Sands, on the chances the Texas legislature will pass a gaming expansion bill
