“They’re begging us to turn it on and believe me, as soon as we’re available to do it, we will do that for you. It’s 50/50. If I was a betting man and was putting odds on it, it’d be 50/50 for next week, realistically.”
—Neal Atkinson, director of sportsbook at Saracen Casino in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on the delayed release of the property’s new sports betting app
“I was all over the highway trying to find this app. I got to it. I registered and it said it wasn’t ready yet, which kind of disappointed me because I was gonna turn back around if I could bet from home.”
—Byron Miller, frustrated sports bettor waiting for the launch of the Saracen app
“Now is the time to open up the economy by learning to live with Covid.”
—Hun Sen, Cambodian prime minister, announcing the latest easing of travel restrictions to the country
“There’s maybe a gap between the haves and the have-nots, but the disposable income of those going out is substantially up.”
—John O’Neill, chairman, Star Entertainment, who says people visiting its three casinos at Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sydney are spending more, offsetting the lack of Chinese visitors
“The ministry calls on all protestors, both current and former employees, to cease gathering in breach of Covid-19 safety regulations or risk being peacefully removed and face the loss of their … financial benefits.”
—Cambodia Ministry of Labor, asking protestors at NagaWorld Casino in Phnom Penh to disperse or risk their layoff compensation
“The longer China stays closed, the slower the tourism recovery.”
—Mike Tansey, managing director, Accenture, on the impact of China’s zero-tolerance Covid policy on Singapore tourism
“There’s been a crazy amount of extravagant spending in the U.S., so we’ve stayed above the fray.”
—Aubrey Levy, senior VP of content and marketing, theScore, on the mega-hype of U.S. sportsbooks in search of clients
“Missouri is a better state than Kansas in every possible way. Our tax rate should be lower.”
—Missouri state Rep. Wes Rogers on the reason he introduced an amendment to lower the proposed tax rate on sports betting from 10 percent—the rate proposed in Kansas—to 8 percent
