“Taxes on gaming are not the jackpot they once were for many states. Outside of Las Vegas, gaming supply has largely met demand, so we don’t expect overall revenues to increase dramatically.”
?Marcy Block, Fitch Ratings, on New York’s potential to reap a windfall from three new casinos
“New York City is the Holy Grail. The casino customer prefers convenience over amenities.”
?Srihari Rajagopalan, analyst, UBS Securities LLC, on why more casinos could eventually come to New York State
“My position is very simple. We set up a process that has a separate board making the decisions, weighing all the factors. We laid out all the factors in the law: the number of jobs, economics, etc. And they should just do their job and go through the law and pick the best applications. It’s up to them. It is all up to them.”
?Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, on his hands-off approach to the casino siting selection
“You know, I think in general these projects are over-promised. I think that a part of a developer’s job is salesperson. But I’d rather them here than elsewhere. They’re not the cash cows people think. They’re successful businesses, but the benefits of those typically don’t spill out into the communities.”
?Frederick Courtwright, mayor, Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, on promises of economic stimulus made to New York communities that will host three new casinos
“Nazarian should tell the commission he’ll be a model citizen, he’ll abide by the license conditions, and he’ll return in December 2015, hoping to show that he’s worthy of a full gaming license. Las Vegas loves a comeback story.”
?Howard Stutz, gaming reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, who advises Sam Nazarian, the man behind the new SLS casino resort, to be “contrite” and obey the rules in order to win a full gaming license; Nazarian received a limited one-year license after investigators uncovered recent drug use and millions in payments to a convicted felon
“As gambling has proliferated across the world, it’s been the genesis of gaming law. I’ve always felt that there wasn’t sufficient academic research or academic recognition of gaming law as an actual discipline.”
—Tony Cabot, Las Vegas attorney, commenting on gaming regulation through the years and the importance of academic research
“Nationwide revenues from Indian gaming have largely plateaued since the start of the recession and in some areas such as New Mexico, gross revenues dropped during 2013 and again in 2014 for many tribal facilities.”
—George Rivera, Pojoaque Pueblo governor on tribal gaming in New Mexico
“We believe the gaming technology sector is attractively priced as a subsector on a yield basis and expect free cash flow generation and recurring revenue streams to offset near-term industry challenges.”
—Wells Fargo Securities analyst Dennis Farrell Jr., in a report predicting that sales of gaming products will rebound in 2015
“News of the ‘lame duck’ backroom deal for the sole benefit of a billionaire casino owner disheartened many Americans who believe in a fair political process. I am beyond pleased this provision was kept out of the final legislation.”
—Statement from the Poker Players Alliance after Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson failed in an effort to attach a bill banning internet gaming as a rider to must-pass legislation in the final 2014 congressional session
“Every market is different. Casinos need to figure out what makes them unique. Why would I, as a customer, travel beyond my local casino to experience your casino?”
— Mark Sutter, chief strategy officer of the Halo Group, arguing that regional casinos need to create unique personalities to differentiate themselves from the competition
“Denigrating them before-the-fact harms the industry and does not give any added protection to the public. Like any new business in Massachusetts, the gaming industry deserves a better chance to prove itself than that.”
—Editorial, the Republican, of Springfield, Massachusetts criticizing Special Agent Vincent Lisi, the agent in charge of most of New England, for his remarks connecting the rise of corruption cases with the rise legalized gaming
“As casino entertainment has expanded in a safe and beneficial manner to countless communities across the United States over the last twenty years, tired stereotypes of public corruption and organized crime have been proven false,
—Geoff Freeman, president and chief executive officer of the American Gaming Association, responding to statements by FBI Special Agent Vincent Lisi, linking the rise of corruption to an increase in commercial gaming
“I think it’s pretty clear that the state’s overall job growth performance has been lackluster well before the events of 2014 in Atlantic City. The state has really experienced an anemic recovery. If anything, the events in Atlantic City this year will just make a bad situation unfortunately much worse.”
—Oliver Cooke, an associate economics professor at Stockton College to the Press of Atlantic City responding to a Rutgers University report that Atlantic City’s job losses this year are just part of slow job growth statewide
“News of the ‘lame-duck’ backroom deal for the sole benefit of a billionaire casino owner disheartened many Americans who believe in a fair political process. I am beyond pleased this provision was kept out of the final legislation, and I couldn’t be more proud of America’s poker players for immediately taking action to notify their Member of Congress that this was a bad deal for players and consumers.”
—John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance after the restoration of America’s Wire Act was not attached to a federal spending bill
