“It’s a completely blank slate. It’s a matter which must be considered with extreme care. We must investigate the possibility before we can make a judgment on whether or not to proceed.”
—Yoshihiro Murai, governor, Miyagi, Japan, who is reconsidering his opposition to an integrated resort in the prefecture
“Most of the dogs showed early signs of aging. We hope to contribute to improving their life quality and encourage more Hong Kong residents to adopt retired greyhounds.”
—Penny Chau Yuen, animal activist, who helped find new homes for 500 racing greyhounds left out of work after the closing of the Macau Canidrome dog track
“He is in good shape. I don’t know why there were such rumors.”
—Ina Chan Un Chan, third wife of Stanley Ho, denying reports that the 97-year-old casino kingpin is unwell
“I don’t see The Walt Disney Company, certainly in the near term, getting involved in the business of gambling, in effect, by facilitating gambling in any way. I do think that there’s plenty of room, and ESPN has done some of this already and they may do more to provide information in coverage of sports, as a for instance, that would be relevant to and of particular interest to gambling and not be shy about it, basically being fairly overt about it. But getting into the business of gambling, I rather doubt it.”
—Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of Disney—which owns ESPN—in a recent stock earnings call
“The world of sports gambling has fascinated Hollywood for decades, but never before has a documentary captured the essence of the industry at such a pivotal period. Through the lens of industry professionals and real-life gamblers within every virtual layer of the business—both legal and illegal—Action delivers a one-of-a-kind look as sports gambling enters a brave new world.”
—Stephen Espinoza, President of Sports and Event Programming for Showtime Networks on the network’s new sports betting documentary series Action premiering in March
“I can’t think of another industry where a class of people is able to make hundreds of millions of dollars off someone else’s product, put risk on that party, and pay them nothing. Some of the revenue that’s going to be made by the gambling companies needs to be shared.”
—Bryan Seeley, senior vice president of Major League Baseball, on the continuing efforts by the professional sports leagues to extract an “integrity fee” or some other compensation from gaming properties offering retail and online sports books
“The world has changed with fantasy sports, sports betting, casinos and online lottery in neighboring states. We do not want to go the way of Sears or Toys R Us.”
—Deb Goldberg, state treasurer of Massachusetts, on the need for the state lottery to embrace new technologies, such as online lottery sales
“When we make an extra $2,000 what do us local guys do? We spend it back in this state. When the casinos make extra money they don’t spend it here they give it back to their shareholders like they are supposed to.”
—Joe Sullivan, a sports bar owner in Springfield, Massachusetts, urging that sports betting be allowed at smaller businesses in the state
“Understand, this industry already exists. It’s just that it’s illegal and underground. The goal of this bill is to bring that underground, unregulated industry into a regulated industry that we can manage.”
—Rep. Timothy Lang, sponsor of a bill to legalize sports betting in New Hampshire
