“We will evaluate the benefits and detriments of (1) the existing not-for-profit approach, (2) a not-for-profit with a for-profit subsidiary and (3) a for-profit entity like that of NYRA’s largest competitors.”
?Chris Kay, president and CEO, NYRA, refusing to speculate on the possible consolidation of New York racing at Belmont Park
“I diagnosed you at the board hearing. Relax and take a breath.”
?Tony Alamo Jr., new head of the Nevada Gaming Commission and a doctor by profession, calming a jittery license applicant
“We’re losing revenue every day because people are going to those casinos to play. They now go to New Jersey, they go to Connecticut. Why don’t we bring them to upstate New York?”
?Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, pitching his casino referendum in 2013
“He’s 15 years too late to the party.”
?Harold L. Vogel, gaming analyst, who says New York Governor Andrew Cuomo shouldn’t expect riches from Empire State casinos
“I think the entire industry knows that there’s too much supply for the demand that’s out there. The gusher is over.”
?Richard McGowan, economics professor and gaming expert, on market saturation on the East Coast
“The shiny new objects attract all of us as customers. The question is what happens when the ‘grand opening’ sign is taken down.”
?Geoff Freeman, American Gaming Association, on the maturation and possible saturation of the U.S. gaming market
“It is the closest location permissible by law to NYC, just 35 miles from George Washington Bridge.”
?Genting, on the chief advantage of its proposed $1 billion casino resort in Tuxedo, Orange County, NY
“The northeast of the United States is approaching a saturation point of gaming. It is a topic of conversation with our investors. I don’t think people are overly troubled by what’s happening in Atlantic City because Atlantic City has been declining for years. As new states have come online, it has broken the monopolistic nature of Atlantic City on the east coast.”
?Michael Treanor, former CEO, Nevele Investors, a New York casino license bidder, on why his casino deserves substantial tax breaks
“Unfortunately, that question fell into the demilitarized zone. We have provided as much detail as we are presently able to and will release additional details as they become available.”
?Gary Loveman, chairman, Caesars Entertainment, deflecting an analyst question about funding one of the company’s new affiliate divisions, and the analyst hung up
“There are some legendary, classic cocktails: the Manhattan, the Gimlet, the Cosmo, and there is a brand new one: SLS Las Vegas. It’s strong and sparkling with millions of bubbles of life, stories, adventures and surprises. It’s fire and leaves you burnt of pleasure. It’s soft and romantic and leaves you a taste of love and honey in the mouth. It’s acid and you will lose your mind but so elegant that it shall change your life.”
?Philippe Starck, designer, rhapsodizing about a new cocktail created to mark the opening of SLS Las Vegas
“When do we get to say whether we even want a casino?”
?A New Yorker, demanding public comment on 16 casino proposals in the state
“They’re overweight, have an oxygen tank next to them.”
?Jeff Gural, owner, Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs in New York, on his own customers, and says the visitor profile of people who come to racinos will change when they becomes casinos
“Mr. Etess’s statement that a ‘resort’ would be built independent of Empire Resorts being granted a Class III gaming license is simply factually incorrect. To be clear, development of Adelaar’s Water Park and redesign of the Monster Golf Course is contingent upon Empire Resorts obtaining a Class III license. Additionally these non-gaming amenities are an important part of fully delivering on the notion of a destination resort.”
?Brian Moriarty, spokesman, Empire Resorts, correcting his boss, Mitchell Etess, who had said Mohegan Sun would build a resort in the Catskills with or without a gaming license
“They walked away from $900 million in the end. We talk about the resort boom of the 1990s. Well, the destruction was in 2008 and 2009. They took on all that money without even blinking. Why? Because they thought they could.”
?Steve Wynn, on the El-Ad Group’s purchase of the New Frontier in 2007, where Crown Resorts is planning a new casino
“The commission simply does not have the authority to direct a casino licensee to forestall a business decision to cease its gaming operations.”
—New Jersey Casino Control Commission Chairman Matthew Levinson, responding to requests from state lawmakers to require the Showboat and Trump Plaza casino-hotels to remain open past their announced closing dates near the end of summer
“In June, we announced the difficult decision to close Showboat at the end of August. Other participants in the market have followed suit in what we believe to be a painful but constructive development for the market. We are hopeful that rationalization of capacity in Atlantic City combined with concerted effort to attract mid-week traffic and hospitality guests will help stabilize the market.”
—Filing from Caesars Entertainment with federal securities regulators on its pending closure of the Showboat casino hotel in Atlantic City
“There’s an awful lot at stake. I’m about as nervous as a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs on this thing. We’re looking at getting a huge chunk of change for very little impact on public services.”
—Joseph Fernandes, town administrator of Plainville, Massachusetts, whose town’s slots parlor rides on the decision the state’s voters make in November whether to repeal the 2011 gaming expansion law
“We’ll make our own decision, they have said they are not interested in participating in the process we have set up to give them a role in making that decision, so we’ll do it.”
—James McHugh, acting chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, commenting on the panel’s decision to remove Boston as a “surrounding community,” for the proposed Wynn casino development in Everett, due to the city’s refusal to negotiate with Wynn
“Their job was to look out for our interests when we were a surrounding community.”
—Martin J. Walsh, mayor of Boston, criticizing the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for rescinding the city’s status as a “surrounding community” for the proposed Wynn casino project in Everett
“Since 1964 with the founding of the first modern state lottery in New Hampshire, states have effectively, safely and responsibly operated lotteries. They have ensured transparency and promoted fair play. Should some states choose to employ Internet gambling or lottery sales, the same extensive safeguards and high standards would be put into place. But it’s a choice that each state should have the option to make. Modern public policy regarding casino gambling and lotteries has been governed by the sensibilities of the states. Efforts by some members of Congress to substitute their judgment for those of the states on Internet gambling and lottery policy should be rejected.”
—Jeffrey R. Anderson, Stephen Martino and Charles McIntyre, heads of the Idaho, Maryland and New Hampshire lotteries respectively, in an op-ed column for the Coalition for Consumer Online Protection
“The transformational framework for online gaming—without bringing the poker-playing ability into the U.S. domestic market—still exists, awaiting a formal tribal partner from among Oklahoma’s 39 federally-recognized tribes. And, make no mistake: If a simple reboot of the earlier accord does not come quickly, with a new partner for the state, an opportunity at billions of dollars in voluntary exchange—including a boost for state government revenues worth hundreds of millions of dollars, without a tax increase on the state population—will be lost.”
—Patrick B. McGuigan, publisher of the City Sentinel in Oklahoma in an analysis of the lack of movement on an agreement by the Oklahoma and the state’s Native American Tribes to launch an international gambling site titled Pokertribes.com
