“All I can tell the NCAA is that we’re on the same side as they are, to protect the integrity of the game. We want fair and true games just like they do.”
—Jay Kornegay, vice president for race and sports operations at Las Vegas Hotel, which boasts one of the world’s largest sports books, on the fact that the NCAA refuses to hold any games of its annual tournament in Las Vegas “to ensure the integrity of the game”
“We’re looking for 1,700 people. That’s how many jobs we have. Seven. Teen. Hundred. We put the swagger in customer service. We’re looking for people with lots of personality. We want to be the best place to work.”
—Kanika Feaster, a recruiter for the new Horseshoe Baltimore casino, at a West Virginia job fair that is part of an effort to fill the casino’s jobs by its August opening
“We commit to build on the solid reputation of MGM Resorts and Mandalay Bay and will increase our oversight and tenant monitoring to address the short-term, while taking appropriate steps to further enhance training to assure compliance in the long-term.”
?MGM Resorts International, on the sting that uncovered illicit drug activity and prostitution at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay
“Two hundred years of conflict is too long. The uncertainty and the acrimony was preventing economic development in Central New York, and we couldn’t allow it to go on any longer.”
?Andrew Cuomo, New York governor, on his settlement with the Oneida Nation. The Indians will now send a portion of casino revenues to Albany
“The forum will underscore the importance of the subject and gain a further understanding of the issue as the state stands at the precipice of expanded gaming options.’’
?Mark Gearan, chairman, New York State Gaming Commission, on a Problem Gambling Forum set for April
“You have to look at all these different options for economic development?a casino, a movie studio, condos, riverfront development?and see how it fits in, what the possibilities are, whether they would work in Schenectady or whether they wouldn’t work. I don’t preclude any of this from the review process. I think we have the potential here to put together something that would complement the other economic development happening in Schenectady.”
?Gary McCarthy, mayor, Schenectady, New York
“I’m so happy to become part of the union family on the Las Vegas Strip. We have all been waiting for this for many years. I cannot wait to negotiate a contract so that we’ll have the same great benefits like other union workers on the Strip.”
?Matthew Maze, one of 800 employees of the Quad in Las Vegas who joined the Culinary and Bartenders unions
“Perhaps the most compelling reason to approve expanded gambling today is to protect New Hampshire programs from the inevitable state revenue drain once casinos open in Massachusetts and expand in Maine.”
—Editorial, Manchester, New Hampshire, Union Leader, commenting on the casino debate that is still alive in the legislature
“A significant concern — one that had previously been expressed by Flanagan related to that site’s casino potential — is the adjacent Letourneau Elementary School. An elementary school would certainly seem ill-suited to be in the shadow of a casino. Where does Letourneau Elementary School fit into this plan?”
—Editorial, Herald News, commenting on a proposed casino resort in Fall River, Massachusetts, and the questions it raises
“We need to get the same quality data that the slot department gets because, ultimately, we’re guessing about comps and what we do from a reinvestment standpoint. When you’re talking to vendors, ask them how we can get things cheaper on RFID.”
—Mike May, vice president of table operations at Pechanga Resort & Casino in California’s Riverside County, speaking about how the casino uses technology to give his casino an edge in table games
“We fully support the legal opinion issued by the Interior Department to guide the land acquisition process for Indian tribes. The Department’s guidelines are totally consistent with our own legal analysis on Carcieri and we are encouraged by it.”
—Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts praising a legal opinion by the Department of the Interior that makes it easier for tribes recognized after 1934 to put land into trust
“We have too many low-income houses, people, families around, in the surrounding area, and too many people with addictions living in the area. We’re hoping that in place of a casino, we will get an acceptable development with lots of money put into that area, because that’s what we really need is some revitalization.”
—Doug Elford of the Newton Community Association in Surrey British Columbia to News 1130 applauding the Surrey City Council’s decision to try and remove slot machines from a Newton Square bingo hall
