“I really never imagined all this 12 months ago. I was just thinking about 12 months on the beach.”
—Scientific Games CEO Gavin Isaacs, after the Nevada Gaming Commission approved his company’s purchase of Bally Technologies precisely one year after he was out of work after Bally, his former company, bought SHFL entertainment, where he was CEO
“We are a convenient suburban market that’s focused between D.C. and Baltimore, and they are a city casino.”
?Rob Norton, Maryland Live!, now the most successful casino in the state. The opening of the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore, 20 minutes away, may steal some thunder from Live!
“I think we have a proposal that can unite all the various groups that were not previously united.”
—Mike Gatto, California assemblyman who has introduced a bill to legalize online poker in the Golden State
“Issues surrounding the site of the proposed Wynn casino have been brought to the gaming commission’s attention, including by its own investigators, yet the commission failed to outright reject the Everett property as a site for gaming. Our suit aims to rectify the failures of the commission.”
—Joseph Curatone, mayor of Somerville, Massachusetts, commenting on the city’s lawsuit against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to try to void the gaming license the commission issued to Wynn for a $1.6 billion casino in Everett
“The law makes this a high priority, keep problem gambling to the barest possible minimum, and we’re following the law and trying to do that.”
—Stephen Crosby, chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, commenting on the panel’s adoption of a pilot program where players would be encouraged to set voluntary gambling limits
“We know poker is an ecosystem like that, and this is a totally unproven model. The previous model of people being able to register, deposit, and withdraw all online is proven to work, so why are we creating one more barrier that could perhaps lead to an unsuccessful marketplace?”
—John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance on a proposed regulation in California that online poker players make deposits in person at casinos and card rooms
“My city, it’s a city of barnacles and parasites, clingers and hangers-on. They are everywhere.”
?Joseph Taylor, attorney for Sam Nazarian, in testimony before the Nevada Gaming Control Board about millions in payments made by the hotelier to a shakedown artist
“It was never a material part of my life.”
?SLS Las Vegas owner Sam Nazarian, testifying before the Nevada Gaming Control Board about recent drug use, which he calls an “indiscretion”
“I know that it’s been hard talking about these things. What we’ve been talking about is the tip of an iceberg—and the rest of that iceberg is your success in business.”
?A.G. Burnett, chairman, Nevada Gaming Control Board, who voted to recommend that Sam Nazarian be awarded a one-year limited gaming license in connection with the SLS Las Vegas
