“Everyone wants a piece of a shrinking pie while internet gambling looms. Who wants to drive to a casino when you can gamble in your pajamas at home?”
—JoAnn Fitzpatrick, writing for the Patriot Ledger on whether Massachusetts should continue to pursue its goal of three casino resorts and a slots parlor
“We don’t mean to discount the value of the jobs a casino would create, but we never ascribed to the theory that casinos would draw that much new money into the economy. Indeed, more gambling will stay in-state.”
—Editorial, Boston Business Journal, writing about casino proposals in the Boston metro area
“We think they’ve got the same problem they’ve always had—which is they don’t have the votes.”
—Martin Cothran, spokesman for Kentucky’s anti-casino Family Foundation, predicting failure for the coming effort to create a 2014 ballot measure to legalize casinos
“We are not viewing this as a locals casino. We’re viewing this resort the same way we view our resorts in Las Vegas. We are looking to attract visitors from outside the state and outside the country.”
—MGM Resorts International spokesman Gordon Absher on MGM’s plan to market its new Maryland resort at National Harbor as a tourist attraction for the D.C. metropolitan area
“Overall, people are not uncomfortable with gaming. But people also realize that you don’t necessarily need to be the host community to get that spinoff of the impacts of it.”
—Steve Rittvo, principal with the casino consulting firm Innovation Project Group
“While there’s been no slowdown in the pace at which states continue to approve adding or expanding casinos and slot machine parlors, they are starting to run into trouble finding places to put them.”
—John Marcus, Time magazine, writing about the difficulty in siting casinos in Massachusetts
“The fact that Mohegan Sun decamped for Revere after losing the local referendum in Palmer isn’t some grand conspiracy come to life—it was a predictable business decision.”
—Editorial, the Boston Herald, addressed the conspiracy theory posited by some businesses in Palmer, Massachusetts that the Mohegan Sun never intended to build a casino in that town
“Internet gaming could lead to a significant drop in revenue for Pennsylvania casinos. The casinos have generated $7 billion in state tax revenue and 16,000 jobs. If the casinos have less revenue, they will cut jobs and provide fewer dollars for local community and economic projects as well as property tax relief.”
—Mike Stack, Pennsylvania state senator in a memo seeking co-sponsors for a bill to ban online gambling in the state. A state commission is currently studying the issue
“There are two ways to understand the tightening of the market. We could simply realize that despite significant investments in advertising and development, poker is now gone a little out of fashion, or we could at the same time consider that the need of an everyday greater liquidity is part of online poker economic structure. As a rapporteur, I am against that as it brings to my mind the idea of online poker becoming an uncontrollable ogre eating one market after the other.”
—Razzy Hammadi, Rapporteur of the French Committee on Economic Affairs to the French General Assembly on why he opposes a move to open French online poker to other European jurisdictions. The Assembly ultimately rejected the idea
“We have more than 400 people in Gibraltar. We run our global operations from there. Our staff are very happy there and there are reasons why we will remain there in order to be competitive in this market.”
—Andy Lee, managing director of William Hill Online on why the company will continue to be based in Gibraltar despite the United Kingdom’s plans to impose a 15 percent point-of-consumption tax on bookmakers’ online winnings from British customers in December 2014
“Our research was showing us that residents from all over the state, from Nome to Point Barrow, like to go to Las Vegas. In the past, our customers would do that by flying through Seattle or Portland, but I think this route is going to be very popular because it’s so much faster. It arrives early enough to do things on Friday night and leave late in the day on Sunday.”
?Marilyn Romano, regional vice president of Alaska Airline, on recently inaugurated nonstop service to Sin City
“Why would you want to put this in a residential area? You’ll impact traffic. You’ll have a lot of people coming into the community that you don’t know. There is tremendous concern about our schoolchildren.”
?Ginger Lieberman, Plainview-Old Bethpage, New York Board of Education, on talk that a slot parlor may be located in the town
“We wanted to give it its proper due. It’s a great brand that people love coming to. We wanted to clean it up a little but it’s very important to us that the same great experience exists and I think we’ve achieved that.”
?Jon Gray, vice president, Caesars’ Linq development in Las Vegas, on the newly reopened O’Sheas
“May your pockets be heavy, your heart be light, and may good luck pursue you at O’Sheas, each morning, afternoon and night.”
?Brian Thomas, aka “Mr. Lucky,” toasting the opening day throng at the new O’Sheas
“The artists follow the money. It’s up to the artists to decide what they want to do.”
?Gary Bongiovanni, Pollstar, on the interest among performers to book smaller rooms in Vegas
“I have this notion of walking to Albany, smashing slot machines along the way.”
?David Blankenhorn, anti-casino activist, on his zeal to limit gambling in New York State
