“They did not file cash transaction reports and suspicious activity reports. The raid is not the commission’s fault because federal law enforcement is the job of the feds. As a result of this raid, the company and two of its employees were indicted, resulting in plea agreements, a settlement agreement, millions of dollars in penalties, and the largest FinCEN fine ever imposed on a casino.”
—Tinian Gaming Commission, deflecting criticism that it is to blame for the closure of the Tinian Dynasty Casino in the Northern Marianas Islands
“As a result of the closure, there will be no gaming revenue taxes collected. Therefore, until the casino reopens there will be no funds appropriated for fiscal year 2016. The time is now for Tinian to think about the big picture.”
—Joey Patrick San Nicolas, Tinian mayor, on the “devastating impact” of Tinian Dynasty Casino
“With a project like this, you cannot finance it until you know what you’re going to build. Until we have that discussion with government and we know what we’re allocated, what we’re allowed to build, what we’re allowed to incorporate, we cannot go out and start looking for finances for the project … You can’t have a supermarket that doesn’t sell eggs or milk.”
—Justin Fung, Aquis Entertainment, on the company’s recently acquired Casino Canberra, which does not yet have poker
“We have more than 300 million people living in a three-hour flight radius around here. We expect Russians to account for 80 percent of our business in terms of bodies, but Chinese to make up 80 percent of the business in money terms.”
—Craig Ballantyne, COO, Tigre de Cristal in Vladivostok. The Lawrence Ho casino will open next month
“We’ve complained a lot to the government … asking why these guys get the concession if the animals are in such a bad situation. The stables are very badly managed, everything is dirty, and the retired animals have nowhere to go. They can be stuck in the stable for five months and never go outside.”
—Albano Martins, Anima Society for the Protection of Animals, on poor conditions at the money-losing Macau Jockey Club. Despite plummeting revenues, the club just got a two-year extension on its monopoly
“The confidence of that level of consumer, at the very high end, I think is probably the most fragile of any of the segments, because of the real estate, the equities, the currency devaluation. I don’t think anyone in China—no matter how rich or poor they may be—is unaffected by consumer confidence right now.”
—Rob Goldstein, president and COO, Las Vegas Sands Corp., who says the VIP market recently shaken by the Dore junket scandal will take a long time to recover
“The key risk is that there is contagion to other junkets over concerns from agents and junket investors about junket liquidity. There is concern in the market that the Dore situation is more tied to liquidity associated with underground banking and the facilitation of currency movement from China into Macau and Hong Kong.”
—Wynn Macau, in a statement about the reported theft of tens of millions of dollars from the property’s Dore VIP room. A cage cashier was reportedly behind the alleged crime
“The monthly rolling chips volume that Dore generates is only 3 percent of the system’s monthly VIP rolling chips. Even if it is completely gone, it would be only less than 1 percent of the system earnings impact (considering that VIP is only 25 per cent of the system EBITDA). From our check this morning with junkets and casino operators, VIP business continues to be steady, some even see stronger volume than August.”
— Kenneth Fong and Isis Wong, Credit Suisse analysts, in a note on the Dore junket theft. The team wrote that Dore “should completely disappear”
“A full smoking ban will have a disastrous impact on Macau and VIP operators. It’s like adding hail to snow.”
—Kwok Chi Chung, president, Macau Association of Gaming & Entertainment Promoters
“Ohio will be in the political spotlight until the last vote is counted in the 2016 election, and events like the one here today facilitate a conversation that needs to take place on casino gaming’s positive economic contributions.”
—Himbert Sinopoli, vice president and general manager of Hollywood Casino Columbus, at an Ohio roundtable discussion of how to educate politicians about the economic benefits of casinos
“I stand by my word as well as my earlier decision to veto this legislation. It is clear the Senate took up my veto and voted to uphold it. While I disagree with today’s ruling, I will continue working toward a solution that ensures a viable live horse racing industry in Idaho.”
—Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter of Idaho, reacting to a Idaho Supreme Court ruling that he didn’t meet the legal deadline for vetoing a bill that bans historical horse racing machines at the state’s three racetracks
“It’s not in our casinos where we have the biggest problems. It is in fact in our local communities. It is our pensioners who are going down to our local clubs.”
—Yvette D’Ath, attorney general of Queensland, Australia, rejecting the assertion by the opposition party that a new casino in Brisbane with 850 poker machines could be any way linked to domestic violence
