“While we are well-acquainted with Chinese business practices from our own supply chain management, our deep understanding of Chinese behaviors and preferences in F&B, retail and entertainment also capacitates us to tailor their time within the IR, enabling them to have an exciting new experience while still retaining the comforts of home.”
—Arnaldo Ho, SJM Holdings, who may be striking the wrong tone in his description of a Chinese-centric IR in Japan
“Anybody who builds any integrated resort that is based on Las Vegas or Macau or anywhere for that matter would be a total insult to this country and the people.”
—Lawrence Ho, chairman and CEO, Melco Resorts and Entertainment, who envisions a “City of the Future” if he wins an IR license in Osaka
“The big ones are all here. Suncity will open in the coming week, David Group is coming. Tak Chun is in Phonm Penh. Guangdong has a place here as well. Suncity is going to develop another resort.”
—Victor Chong Wei Yong, Jin Bei Group, on the influx of Macau junket investors planting their flags in Sihanoukville, Cambodia
“The Chinese nationals who come here were mostly criminals in China who have poor track records. Were we to implement our country’s legal measures, there’d be no pardons for them.”
—Thong Mardy, Phnom Penh police chief, on the explosion of the casino industry in the country and the accompanying rise in Chinese immigration
“Our punters have spoken through their bets! Seven out of every 10 bets on the election are on Labor. So we have decided to pay them early. Punters rarely get it wrong on elections.”
—Rich Hummerston, communications manager, Sportsbet, on the Aussie betting agency’s mind-boggling decision to pay more than $1 million on a federal election before the votes were counted. Their candidate lost
“The ubiquity and craze of gaming in Kenya has caused dire social and economic strain at the behest of a few elite, majority of whom are non-Kenyans and live outside the country.”
—Fred Matiang’I, Kenya Interior Cabinet Secretary, on the rapid growth of gaming in the East African country
“A UK gambling license should be a hallmark of credibility and trust, not an opportunity to push the limits of conditions and responsibilities.”
—Tom Watson, UK Labour Party, who called for online casinos to reapply for their licenses after four operators were fined £4.5 million for noncompliance
“Mobile is a reality. It is going to be the predominant vehicle by which people engage in sports betting. It’s kind of like analytics, you have to accept that reality. Then I think what you try to do is build-in limitations around what the clubs can do so that mobile activity that is going to go on in the stadium doesn’t become all-pervasive. We’re a family entertainment product.”
—Rob Manford, MLB Commissioner at a recent conference as Pennsylvania prepares to launch mobile sports betting—the first state with MLB teams to do so
“As many as 5,000 jobs are in jeopardy in Everett, and the future is now uncertain in Springfield, as the Gaming Commission has abdicated its stewardship of casinos in Massachusetts to a pair of Las Vegas operators.”
—Jaclyn Cashman, Boston Herald columnist, blaming the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for uncertainties over the future of the Encore Boston Harbor casino
“I think what you’re seeing here a little bit of a temper tantrum by the CEO of Wynn. I’m sure he’s miffed by the stipulations that were put on him.”
—Richard McGowan, a Boston College professor who studies the gaming industry, about the talks between Wynn and MGM over a possible sale of Encore Boston Harbor to MGM
“It’s taken us an awful lot of time to get to a position of uncertainty.”
—Ronald Mariano, Massachusetts House Majority Leader, over the confusion created by talks between MGM and Wynn for MGM to buy the Encore Boston Harbor
“If I had a car in my driveway, and somebody slashed the tires, and the engine is sputtering, and I want to sell it to you for $40,000, are you going to buy it? You’re not.”
—Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Nation, deriding the possibility that his tribe might be interested in buy the MGM Springfield should it go up for sale
