“On the issue of internet poker, the only difference between the poker games and the others is that it involves an element of skill associated with and compared with just a slot machine online. So that’s the one area that distinguishes it a little bit.”
—Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, saying in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he could support internet poker, although he is co-sponsor of a bill that would ban online gaming
“Pennsylvania regulators made sure the state has some of the best blackjack rules in the country. That player-friendly attitude should continue with any expansion of gambling. Pennsylvania is on the forefront in the next generation of regulated wagering. Doing it right is better than doing it fast.”
—Columnist Mark Gruetze of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, urging caution in the state’s push toward legalizing online gaming
“We think there’s a genuine argument that some of the behavior by the pokie designers is misleading and deceptive in that it makes people think things are happening that are not actually happening.”
—Jacob Varghese,an attorney with the Maurice Blackburn firm in Australia, which is exploring whether Australian slots breach consumer laws
“This is the second time in two years that SkyCity has been caught out by the media demonstrating zero host responsibility in allowing people to gamble for hours on end.”
—Denise Roche, New Zealand Green Party, on an undercover operation in which a woman gambled for 10 hours without staff intervention
“The neuroscience shows that gives you a little bit of a hit, and that hit is not dissimilar to the hit you get when you take a drug.”
—Jacob Varghese, lawyer preparing a case against Australian pokie machines. He claims they are inherently deceptive and addictive
“That’s like saying that a car is designed to run out of petrol, or a car is designed to exceed the speed limit. It’s just not true.”
—Ross Ferrar, CEO, Gaming Technologies Australia, on claims that pokies are designed to deceive and addict hapless gamblers
“We now know that poker machines are as addictive as many narcotic drugs and operate on the same pathways of the brain. You could say the techniques used in poker machine design are intended to ensure people become unconsciously addicted.”
—Charles Livingstone, Monash University of the Pokies Play You anti-gaming campaign in Australia. He says poker machines are as addictive as some hard drugs
“The fundamental economic dynamic of a casino is taking money out of the community, not bringing money in… Players spend money that would otherwise be spent somewhere else in the local economy.This casino will have a negative social and economic impact on the local community. The cost of residential treatment for a single gambling addict is £10,000.”
—Simon Perfitt, Rethink Gambling, on the potential social and actual costs of a new Genting “supercasino” in Birmingham, England
“In some places, for example in Singapore, the government deliberately makes it more expensive for locals to enter the casino because it is anxious to protect its own citizens.
—Jim Orford, Gambling Watch UK, who is worried a casino at the National Exhibition Centre is Birmingham will said increase problem gambling
“Social responsibility is at the core of the company’s ethos and operations. We make a significant investment in staff training and in internal systems to ensure that robust procedures are in place to identify and then support any visitor to one of our venues who develops issues with gaming.”
—Genting spokesman, responding to criticism of the new Birmingham casino. Peter Brooks, president of Genting UK, said it’s a “complete joke” that the company can only install 150 slot machines in the UK casino, compared to 4,000 in New York
“MGM Springfield’s biggest political problem now is not its opponents, but its friends. They have been unnecessarily and unfairly hung out to dry.
—Editorial, the Republican, commenting on the political capital MGM has lost in Springfield, Massachusetts with the way that it released details of its proposed downsizing of the MGM Springfield
“It is my hope that, if neighboring tribes have concerns about this development, they can work it out with the T.O. The last thing we need is Congress butting in and breaking faith with the Tribes, killing jobs, and potentially opening the federal government up to a billion-dollar lawsuit.”
—Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, objecting to a bill, HR 308, that would prevent the Tohono O’Odham tribe from opening its Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Resort in Glendale
“This is not keeping promises, it is breaking every promise we’ve ever made to this tribe. It is bad from every angle unless you happen to be part of the current gaming oligopoly in Phoenix that doesn’t have the competition.
—Tom McClintock, representative from California, criticizing the Keep the Promise Bill that would prevent the Tohono O’Odham tribe from opening its $400 million Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Resort in Glendale, Arizona
“A full hotel, full bowling alley, a full arcade theater, a parking garage is what people voted on. We should give the people what they voted for.
—Bud Williams, city councilor in Springfield, Massachusetts, criticizing MGM for downsizing its original plans for the MGM Springfield by 14 percent
