“The next casino should expand the market, and not just mine it. It should help foster additional economic activity and mesh with the strengths of the city, such as the hospitality sector. The more the project creates an attractive force for other businesses, the more it will add to the city’s and region’s economies.”
—Editorial in Philadelphia Inquirer on the competition for Philadelphia’s second casino license
“It was truly a surreal experience when I knew that I had him beat. When that final card came out my emotions were just running wild. I have to thank BorgataPoker.com for putting on this awesome tournament and the Poker Players Alliance for bringing poker back to the United States.”
—Myroslaw Woroch, the winner of the Borgata Hotel and Casino’s and Party Poker’s “New Jersey’s Next Poker Millionaire” tournament, one of the richest online tournaments offered in New Jersey to date
“What’s more important to us is that we are there at the start of a business. We’re very, very confident. This is not an industry that will go away. The industry will grow.”
—Howard Weiss, chief executive of Philadelphia-based KGM Gaming to the Philadelphia Inquirer on the company’s new games to go live on Caesars Interactive’s online gambling sites in New Jersey making the company one of the only local U.S.-based contributors to the state’s online gambling sites
“This marks a turning point in the diversification of our gaming industry from land-based casinos and racinos, to internet gaming and gambling. This act will fulfill our mission of attracting very successful global internet gaming companies to the Virgin Islands, and encourage new investments to our struggling economy
—John de Jongh Jr., governor of the Virgin Islands on proposed legislation to offer legal and regulated online gambling in the islands along the same lines as New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware
“The state takes money from gray-haired ladies pumping their dead husbands’ pensions into the slots and gives it to cigar-chewing guys escaping their nagging wives by playing the ponies. Stephens, to his credit, wants to give the money to their grandchildren so they might learn something useful, like gambling is addictive and regressive.”
?David Brunori, Forbes, in a column on a plan by Pennsylvania state Rep. Todd Stephens to redirect horse racing subsidies to schools “so Johnny can learn to read the tote board”
“President of a hospitality company is not a position advertised on Craigslist. There would have to be some degree of discussion between Graydon and Paragon before he was hired. That much is a given. The question is, how long was Graydon organizing his new job while ostensibly regulating his future employer?”
?Vancouver Observer, on Michael Graydon, former head of the British Casino and Lottery Comission, who has a new job: casino chief
“We’re talking about dealer jobs, slot attendant jobs; food and beverage jobs are also being posted. Valet runners. You name it, we got a job for everybody.”
?Chad Barnhill, general manager, Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, which will open this summer
“You can name the women CEOs, but you can’t name all the men at that position. It’s a little bit of an aberration. I’ve had a lot of ‘first woman’ jobs over the years.”
?Patricia Becker, first woman to serve on the Nevada Gaming Control Board, on the dearth of women at the top of the gaming industry
“It’s the perfect place to entertain up to 250 of your closest friends.”
—Las Vegas Palms, on its Sky Villa, a 9,000-square-foot, two-story suite that rents for $40,000 a night
“I don’t want us to be investing in Massachusetts’ and Maine’s needs when we could be investing in our own, and I don’t want us to be at their mercy.”
—Maggie Hassan, governor of New Hampshire, explaining her support for a casino in the Granite State
“During the last eight years there have been numerous attempts in Congress to first prohibit and then to legalize gambling online. Many of these bills have included provisions that were harmful to Indian country or which failed to recognize our unique place within the federal system.”
—Ernie Stevens, Jr., chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association, calling on Indian voices to be heard in any discussion of whether to legalize online gaming at the federal level
“Protecting against predatory lending and overly aggressive debt collection in the gaming industry is critical, because the odds are stacked against the patron being able to earn back the value of the loan.”
—Martha Coakley, attorney general of Massachusetts, asking the state gaming commission to adopt regulations protecting casino debtors from having liens put on their property by casinos
