“They were losing the hearts and minds of punters in what was a very competitive market, there’s no doubt about that. We had to turn The Star into a destination, and that’s precisely what we set out to do.”
—IGT international chief Walter Bugno, reflecting on his successful turnaround of The Star in Sydney while an executive of Tabcorp
“Regardless of the monthly numbers released for the casinos, they’re all doing tremendous with non-gaming revenues. Atlantic City has been packed this summer. Everybody needs to look at the positives about what’s going on here and stop listening to all the naysayers.”
—Atlantic City Finance Director Michael Stinson, after approving a budget that contains no tax increases
“It’s used to getting its way. It no doubt thinks that all that’s needed for an extension to the monopolistic Federal Group poker machine license is to throw a few threats around, scare a few politicians and call in a few favors.”
—David Wilkie, Tasmanian politician, on the Federal Group’s conditions for upgrading its two casinos in the state
“We’re not in a race to the bottom on price. This poker room isn’t going to make or to break Galaxy. More than ever now, it’s a buyers’ market, not a sellers’ one. We want to be able to offer our customers choice.”
—Kevin Clayton, Galaxy Macau, on the property’s new Pavilion Poker facility, which is targeted to mass-market as well as VIP players
“Someone asked me about what it means if the casino sector in Macau is reducing its marketing spend. I said to them it actually makes us be smarter about the way we run our businesses—how we right-size them—so that we can find new ways to grow.”
—Raymond Yap Yin Min, Galaxy Entertainment, on conserving resources in the midst of recession
“It is inconceivable that any knowledgeable business person would consider this ‘liquidation’ proceeding to be likely to accomplish anything other than to provide a mountain of fees for lawyers, and a smoke screen to forever hide the inside dealings between the Chinese entities and government cronies that led to this disaster in the first place.
—“Tarzan,” online commenter at the Bahamas Tribune Business, about liquidators taking over the troubled Baha Mar project
“This is a reclamation of land that was once ours. Tribal lands once stretched from Cape Ann to Rhode Island, and this new reservation represents only a dot on the map, but it feels really good.”
—Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts, commenting on the decision by the federal government to put land into trust in Taunton and Cape Cod.
“Our position is that there is plenty of room for us and the tribe to survive and to do very well. We can make money with or without them. We are going to continue in our application.”
—George Carney, one of the principals of the $500 million casino and hotel proposed for Brockton, Massachusetts, on the decision by the federal government to put land into trust in Taunton, allowing the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to build its casino
“The action in Massachusetts will be simple but powerful. We enter the casino, sit down at a slot machine, put in our money and then we begin Freedom Playing by occupying the slot machine any way you want except you don’t press the Play button.”
—Organizers of the National Day of Action Against Predatory Gambling, who plan a protest on September 27 at Plainridge Park Casino in Massachusetts.
