“I’ve always maintained that the New Jersey decision is critical because it will indicate a long way toward determining when we have legal sports betting throughout the United States.”
—Daniel Wallach, attorney and sports law expert, explaining just how much the future of sports wagering in the United States hinges on a New Jersey decision
“The interest in fantasy sports has effectively gone from zero to 5 million people overnight.”
—Bo Brownstein, organizer of the Fantasy Sports Combine, speaking about the rising popularity in fantasy sports
“The ultimate issue is that we are just not in an expansion mode right now. It doesn’t mean that expansion will never be in our future, but it’s just not at the moment.”
—Adam Silver, National Basketball Association Commissioner, putting to rest the rumor that Las Vegas may get its very own NBA team
“The element of chance in any game is provided ‘by means of’ the action of the particular player in pressing the button and so interrupting that ever-changing sequence at a particular moment. The terminal is not simply communicating information from the RNG, but is the active means by which the winning or losing combination is generated. The random number generator is a necessary part of that process, but its response, wherever situated, is entirely automatic.”
—Lord Carnwath, judge, UK Supreme Court, explaining (sort of) a ruling that the Rank Group was fairly taxed on multiterminal gaming machines
“Just as with any business, there’s a down and an up, but we are very optimistic about the prospects of the Macau industry. And with the support of the SAR government and the Chinese government, we are quite sure that we as an industry will be able to work our way out from the downturn very soon.”
— Raymond Yap Yin Min, senior VP in charge of premium market development for Galaxy Entertainment, on the Macau downturn
“This is an issue that now requires action. It can no longer be ignored. We very much hope the government will recognize that something must be done and give time for this bill.”
—Dan Boucher, UK anti-gaming activist, on the failure of the British government to stem the rising tide of FOBTs
“The biggest negative effect of gambling is loss of money. If someone has a gambling problem and loses a big amount of money, this can result in debt, asset loss, bankruptcy, fraud, theft, job loss or poor performance at work, stress and even suicide.”
—Tanzania Daily News, listing the obvious downsides of gambling. The country will introduce a national lottery in November
“This full ban will perhaps harm gaming operators; of course they don’t want to see this happen. Even some gaming workers are worried. But casino employees must not be worried. This is the year of the gaming license review. I don’t think any casino operator would dare to fire a high number of workers right now.”
—Au Kam San, Macau legislator, who says the city’s casino operators won’t lay off staff due to the 13-month revenue decline
“You don’t smoke, so you don’t know the benefits of smoking. If there’s no benefits from smoking, no one would’ve done it. Why are you so tolerant of drinking or clubbing late night but discriminating against smokers?”
—Fong Chi Keong, Chinese lawmaker, defending smokers’ “freedom of choosing their lifestyle.” Macau’s government just passed a smoking ban that now applies to casinos
“We understand that the sellers of tobacco products will have a harder life. But in relation to SMEs, if they are impacted by this policy we are available to support them so they can change the nature of their activity.”
—Lionel Leong, Macau Secretary for Economy and Finance, advising small and medium-sized tobacconists they can go into another business if their shops are harmed by a new cigarette tax
“The boom times for casino revenues we saw in years past are probably history. Those were caused by the opening of new properties. And a lot of the novelty has worn off. But I think what you see is stability and an industry that is in good health.”
—William H. Ryan Jr., chairman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, on Pennsylvania’s first annual decline in gambling revenue, to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“We’ve made absolutely clear to our players and to our front office personnel is that we do not believe that DraftKings is an appropriate—or any other daily fantasy—is an appropriate activity for them,” he said. “We see a very clear distinction between people who can affect the outcome of the game and fans who want to engage through daily fantasy.”
—Rob Manfred, MLB commissioner, addressing a meeting of the Baseball Writers Association of America on MLB’s connection with daily fantasy sports site DraftKings
“We are watching very closely. As you might expect, considering where we’ve been and where we’re at, we’re walking a very delicate line, a very sensitive line that could be muddied very quickly depending on what words you use in a sentence. So it’s something that we’re paying a lot of attention to.”
—Tony Clark, the president of the players’ union, addressing the same a meeting of the Baseball Writers Association of America on MLB’s connection with daily fantasy sports sites
“This year’s program is built around initiating and continuing conversations the influential people in the iGaming business need to have to be successful, while always being mindful of past lessons learned. We’re very excited by the lineup of speakers we have confirmed to elevate these discussions.”
—Sue Schneider, chair of the Malta iGaming Conference scheduled for November 16-19
