“This is a truly historic moment in which descendants of the Mayflower Pilgrims stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us as descendants of the Wampanoag people who broke bread and brokered a long-lasting peace with their ancestors.”
—Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council, praising the General Society of Mayflower Descendants for supporting the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, which would put land in Taunton and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts into trust for the tribe.
“It’s something we should do regardless of whether the funds are dedicated to those issues. Every bordering state to Texas has legalized gambling. We lose millions of dollars in potential tax revenue to those areas. We have the consequences of gambling, but none of the positives.”
—Texas State Rep. Joe Deshotel, arguing for his bill that would fund the state’s hurricane insurance through allowing casinos along the coast and taxing them
“I’m optimistic. We have sports betting now. I don’t see why we can’t have mobile sports betting. It’s a matter of convenience.”
— Dominick Ruggerio, president of the Rhode Island Senate, on the prospects of online sports betting in his state
“What we have achieved in the past 40 years was not a windfall, nor was it given in charity by others. It comes from the hard work, wisdom and courage of all members of the party and the people of all ethnic groups in China.”
—Xi Jinping, Chinese president, in remarks hailing 40 years since the “great reawakening” of the Communist Party of China
“Whatever your views are on Macau, the U.S. operators trade at a premium to the Chinese operators. While that has always been the case, I think in light of the trade tensions, that doesn’t make a lot of sense right now. At the very least, the U.S. operation should trade at a discount.”
—Jim Chanos, who started short-selling the casino stocks of U.S. operators in Macau when President Donald Trump unleashed his first round of tariffs against China
“We made a promise that we would not be importing non-residents to work as croupiers during the term of this government. That promise is going to be maintained.”
—Chui Sai On, Macau chief executive, rejecting a proposal to lift the ban on non-locals working as dealers in the city’s casinos
“It’s not every day that the Lim family buys shares in GENT. I guess the family is trying to signal to the market that GENT shares are cheap, which we concur.”
—Maybank, on the Lim family’s acquisition of 300,000 shares in the Genting Bhd. With about 38.4 percent of the company, the Lims are majority shareholder
“Casino-linked crime and problem gambling arising from casino gambling are under control.”
—Tan Tee How, chairman, Singapore Casino Regulatory Authority, who says the problem gambling rate in the market is less than 1 percent
“I only know as much as what you read in the papers.”
—Lim Kok Thay, chairman and CEO, Genting Group, on the company’s chances of securing an IR license in Japan
“I don’t see the Macau concessions being used in any way as a bargaining chip for trade. It is not going to achieve anything, and I don’t think the Chinese government is going to go down that path.”
—Vitaly Umansky, analyst, Sanford C. Bernstein, who doubts U.S. operators in Macau will be affected by China-U.S. trade tensions
“I believe that the law can have an effect at preventing employees from being trapped as gamblers. However, many people worry about the actual practice of the law. This bill has some practical difficulties in terms of its implementation. Are there other effective measures?”
—Angela Leong, Macau legislator, expressing doubts about the practicality of a bill that would prevent casino workers from entering their workplaces during off hours
“At our core this organization is a games company. We make great slot games. We make great social games. Sports betting is not totally aligned to our core competencies. But we are a provider to the casinos, so if it’s important to them, then it’s important to us.”
—Matt Wilson, managing director for the Americas for Aristocrat Technologies, commenting to CDC Gaming Reports that the supplier has no immediate plan to pursue sports betting technology
