“Not many investors are baking in long-term growth for the sector … We feel the consensus view is that the industry revenue may never go back to 2019’s level, let alone ‘long-term growth.”
—J.P. Morgan, looking to the future of Macau’s gaming industry
“This is an age where talent makes all the difference to a nation’s success. We need to focus on attracting and retaining top talent, in the same way we focus on attracting and retaining investments.”
—Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore prime minister, on the city-state’s plan to overhaul visa rules to make high-income foreign eligible for five-year work passes, with a provision to allow their dependents to seek employment
“These casinos add new dimensions to the term ‘wild west.’”
—Frederic Gushin, Spectrum Gaming Group, speaking at G2E Asia on unregulated casinos in Laos, known for money laundering and human trafficking
“The escape of 42 Vietnamese from a casino shows there is more to the ‘slavery’ issue and it is tarnishing Cambodia’s image.”
—Khmer Times, in a Facebook post about casino workers who swam from Cambodia to Vietnam to escape brutal working conditions at an online casino
“We’d rather die at home.”
—Doan Thi Ngoc Diep, one of dozens of Vietnamese who swam across a river from Cambodia to Vietnam to escape casino jobs they described as “hell,” marked by 14-hour days, unpaid wages and beatings
“I know initiatives and folks will say anything. Perhaps that initiative will provide a few dollars. I’m not supporting or opposing it, I haven’t given it a lot of thought, but it is not a homeless initiative.”
—Governor Gavin Newsom of California, on his neutrality toward Proposition 27, the digital sports betting measure proposed by out-of-state operators
If the state refuses to negotiate, then the next step for us is to go to the Secretary of Interior and they basically will force the state into a compact.
—Billy Friend, chief of the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma, which owns casinos in Kansas. He spoke about forcing the state to accept a new compact.
There is no evidence to suggest that casinos could not meet their PILOT obligations under the original act.
—Michael Blee, Atlantic County Superior Court Judge, speaking about his decision to strike down an amendment to the PILOT law.
