“It took me by surprise as well. There was no plan to do a sale of business or a major merger. We felt very good about our prospects for the future.”
—Bally Technologies CEO Richard Haddrill, commenting to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the company’s acquisition by lottery giant Scientific Games was unplanned, with Scientific Games approaching Bally after the IGT/GTECH merger was announced
“We’re combining two companies with best-in-class products. We will help them break into markets quicker because of our relationships. This is a great growth opportunity for Multimedia.”
—Global Cash Access CEO Ram Chary on his company’s pending acquisition of slot manufacturer Multimedia Games
“There’s this misplaced secular evangelicalism in the way we talk about whether the city can be ‘saved.’ The city is going to be there. It’s not going to fall into a pit. The question is: Will it remain a viable tourist attraction and gaming destination?”
—David Schwartz, director, UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research, on opinions about his hometown, Atlantic City
“For the next couple of months, we all know it gets a little quieter down here in the winter. Think about your own organizations and where you might bring some meetings here.”
—Charles Wowkanech, president of New Jersey’s million-member AFL-CIO at a meeting of New Jersey union leaders in Atlantic City seeking to help the troubled resort
“We have 12 congressmen and two senators. We don’t need to go down to Washington. They can come the hell up here to Atlantic City. We need to put our money where our mouth is and support our union brothers and sisters.”
—Stephen Sweeney, New Jersey state Senate president and former union official, at a meeting of New Jersey union leaders in Atlantic City about the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce’s annual Walk to Washington lobbying event held in Washington each winter
“If you’re not having a good time, I’m not doing my job as mayor. This is a place where whether you’re looking for craft beer or single-malt Scotches, whether you’re looking for foie gras or great waffles and chicken, you’re gonna find it here and you’re gonna find it at 3 o’clock in the morning. And if you can’t find it, call my office and I’ll tell you where to go.”
—Donald Guardian, mayor of Atlantic City at a recent reception welcoming a convention of minority business owners to the city
“The Wire Act was originally intended and long understood as a narrow and targeted weapon to assist the states in preventing organized crime from taking bets on sports—not as a broad federal prohibition that would prevent states from legalizing online gambling within their borders.”
—Michelle Minton, a fellow at UNLV from her upcoming paper, The Original Intent of the Wire Act and Its Implications for State-based Legalization of Internet Gambling
“Every time I put a $20 bill in a machine, about two minutes in I say, ‘This is boring. Where are the zombie Nazis I can kill with a quantum entanglement device?’ So I cash out, go home, and play ‘Destiny’ or whatever, and I don’t gamble for two years.”
?Doug Elfman, Las Vegas Review-Journal, on the need for video game-gambling to attract millennials to Vegas casinos
“Come on. Anybody under my age?I’m 41?doesn’t really find slot machines all that attractive. We think it’s a little too much to ask to get these young people to change their behaviors to engage a gambling machine and sit down.”
?David Chang, chief marketing officer, Gamblit Gaming, which is creating video games with real-money gaming capabilities
“Everybody is keeping a very close eye on Downtown Summerlin, just like they are SLS Las Vegas. Everyone wants to know whether SLS Las Vegas will grow the sales market and deliver on both its investment and its promise. The same thing is true of the Summerlin project. Will it get people out of their houses, on the freeway and spending more money?”
?Jeremy Aguero, Applied Analysis, on the recent opening of the massive shopping and entertainment complex at Downtown Summerlin
“Gambling is more normalized now. It’s not just the lottery or casinos. It’s fantasy football. Sports betting. Internet betting. Every form of gambling has taken off, and we haven’t done a great job of responding to it.”
?James Maney, New York Council on Problem Gambling, on the state’s miserly $2.2 million annual budget for problem gaming treatment
“I would not take their money.”
?William J. Larkin Jr., New York state senator, who says he does not accept campaign contributions from casino interests
“Excuse me, Amish, I think you’re wonderful neighbors, and I think you’re great people. But I heard how you can’t come to these things—and yet you’re here. I heard how you can’t go to court—and yet you were there.”
?Michael Davis, Finger Lakes Building and Trades Council, challenging a contingent of Amish who opposed a casino in Tyre, New York at a recent public hearing. The Amish are not supposed to be politically active, Davis said
“Caesars wants everyone who gambles at the company’s casinos to be there for the right reasons?to simply have fun. Problem gambling is bad for the casino business.”
?Jan Jones Blackhurst, Caesars spokeswoman, explaining her company’s stance on compulsive gambling
“The energy against casinos has been NIMBY energy, and that can’t really be enough.”
—Jerold Duquette, professor of political science at Central Connecticut State University, commenting on the chances of the anti-casino initiative Question 3 to pass in Massachusetts on November 3
“I hate to sound cynical and dismissive, but you can never underestimate the inattention of voters to subjects. I do not think this is a prime issue in people’s lives, especially when you have some hotter issues.”
—Fred Bayles, journalism professor at Boston University, talking about the attention that the public pays or doesn’t pay to casino issues in Massachusetts
“It is possible to close an 11-point gap, but with the undecided percentage in the single digits, the pro-repeal activists are going to have to convert some no votes to the yes side in order to prevail.”
—Tim Vercellotti, professor of political science at Western New England University, speculating on the chances that Repeal the Casino Deal will close its gap with Massachusetts voters
“None of this is desirable, or necessary. For 35 years, the existing federal recognition process has worked. Under the current system, hundreds of American Indian tribes have been recognized. There’s no need to weaken the rules for recognition.”
—Editorial, Hartford Courant, arguing that the federal government should loosen its rules for recognizing Indian tribes
“What we have here is two opposing Indian tribes and their financial backers fighting over whether a casino with 2,000 slot machines should be built north of Madera so more Californians can gamble their paychecks away. If there’s a good guy to support in this fight, let us know.”
—Editorial, San Jose Mercury News, commenting on California Proposition 48, which would allow a Northern California tribe to build an off-reservation casino
