“Yat Yuen apologizes we had to take so long to develop this plan. We developed this center so we can fulfill society’s demands for corporate responsibility. We didn’t count any costs about this. No matter how much, we will do it.”
—Angela Leong, Macau legislator and owner of a dog track that closed without making provisions for 500 greyhounds; a new facility to house the dogs will cost MOP25 million (US$3 million) per year
“One out of 11 Japanese people play it once a week. Once a week. So it isn’t like if you and I went to some silly place—it’s not like Vegas where you go once a year or once every 10 years and say, ‘Oh, I’m going to be a bride so let’s go crazy.’ It isn’t like that at all.”
—Min Jin Lee, author, Pachinko, on the ubiquity of the games in Japan
“I’ve got a good background and reputation in Japan for being the leading MICE integrated resort developer and operator by people who know. They say we’re in the number one pole position.”
—Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO, Las Vegas Sands Corp., who is confident he has an advantage in the breaking jurisdiction
“For us, Osaka is the top. I think Osaka is the perfect place for an IR.”
—Jim Murren, chairman and CEO, MGM Resorts International, who is interested only in Osaka as the site of a Japan integrated resort
“Although we exchanged business cards, there was no talk about work.”
—PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant, working for the Osaka government on its IR bid, seen being entertained by MGM
“This is quite devastating. The increase of $86 million represents family breakdown, addiction, crime, domestic violence.”
—Tim Costello, Alliance for Gambling Reform, on the rise in pokie losses in the Australian state of Victoria
“I thought, ‘All that’s left for me is to be dead.’ And I will never, ever give them another dollar.”
—Anna Bardsley, former gambling addict, who said she contemplated suicide because of her addiction, and supports efforts to curb pokies in Victoria
“There is no effective therapy for gambling addiction. We believe that the most efficient measure against addiction is simply not creating places for gambling.”
—Teruo Sakurada, chairman, Stop Casino Osaka Citizens’ Network
“With everything the commission has before it for the summer, I think it would be best to set a date for this; a time in the fall when we can truly ask questions and come up with a plan for how to go forward.”
—Eileen O’Brien, a member of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, commenting on a request to rehear the request for a Brockton casino from Mass Gaming & Entertainment
“This bill is critical for the rights and benefits of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. It’s a Tribe known as The People of the First Light, who were an integral part of our country’s history, assisting the Pilgrims settling in Plymouth.”
—U.S. Rep. William Keating, speaking for his bill that would put land in Taunton into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts
“We are the tribe that helped save the first colonists from starvation and we are the last surviving tribe of the original nine tribes granting Indian title to lands forming Plymouth Colony.”
—Cedric Cromwell, tribal chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, testifying before Congress on a bill that would put land for his tribe into trust
