“We were so intimidated, we figured we could rectify this the next morning. Just give them the money and get back to our rooms and lock the door. They gave us Steve’s ID back, then gave us two free bags of coffee and thanked us for coming.”
—Jay Lush, one half of a couple who say they were bullied into paying $6,500 to scammers at a Dominican Republic casino
“What kind of country are we building? Are we raising our children and telling them, ‘Just do nothing with your life, just go around betting and become a millionaire and live well’? Is that the kind of thing that we’re telling our country and our children?”
—Fred Matiang’I, Kenyan interior minister, on a report that 76 percent of the country’s young people gamble regularly
“We don’t go into markets and look for a cheap way to do things. Sheldon’s approach has always been scale. It’s been dramatic. It’s design-driven.”
—Rob Goldstein, Las Vegas Sands President and COO< saying the company’s commitment to winning an IR license in Japan, specifically Osaka, is “immense”
“Fortunately for us, the Japanese government has made it very public that they will use the Singapore model. I believe that is exactly what the Japanese government is looking for, whereas our other competitors—bar one who is across the road—wouldn’t be in the same position to claim they can do it.”
—Lim Kok Thay, Genting Singapore chairman, on the company’s edge in the race to win a Japan IR licenses; Lim apparently thinks its Singapore rival, the Las Vegas Sands Corp., will also have an advantage
“Our city will fall into decline if we allow the serious malady of addiction to flourish just for the sake of the money of foreign businesses. No matter how much money they dangle before our eyes, building a casino is unacceptable.”
—Yukio Fujiki, founder of the anti-casino Yokohama Harbor Resort Association in Japan
“Just look at it as a spoke in a wheel. One spoke is slot machines, one spoke is a restaurant, one spoke is table games and one spoke is the sportsbook, and everything kind of works in successful operations. All the spokes work together; one feeds the other.”
—Robert Mann, columnist for SportsHandle.com, on how adding sports book to a casino can create a ripple effect throughout that casino’s operations
“If the lottery version is the only game in town, people who aren’t satisfied with that product will have nowhere else to turn. With both models in place, the sports bettor will have more options to choose from and it will keep the odds more in check.”
—Mark Blasdel, Montana Senate president, on why two bills putting sports betting under the lottery and the attorney general, favor consumers
“How many more horses will have to die on your watch before you realize Santa Anita is not safe for horses? You have the opportunity to end this suffering.”
—Kiersten Cluster of Elephant Guardians of Los Angeles, protesting the reopening of Santa Anita Racetrack after 23 horses have died there since Christmas
