“What recovery? I haven’t seen any recovery yet. Top-line revenue growth is not improving and they have moved to the mass market now, which is a low-margin business. I don’t think it is a good time for investors to go into the sector.”
—Paul Chan, analyst, Invesco Ltd., who counts himself among the pessimists when it comes to Macau, now in its 23rd month of recession
“A trade union law is not a wild animal and there is evidence to prove that the law benefits both employers and employees. We will more do to get the law enacted…we hope the government will do more to push employers and employees to reach common ground on the law.”
—Lei Chan U, Federation of Macau Trade Unions, on the group’s push for a citywide trade union law
“Hopes of attracting international investment would be compromised without a firm oversight structure, especially from those Nevada-licensed companies that are accountable to Nevada regulators for their international operations.
—Staffan Cnattingius, owner, Better Games Ent, on the possibility Brazil will open up for gaming
“There needs to be change in Macau. From having worked here and the feedback I’m receiving people are starving for it. Young people are holding parties in different places that few others know about, but people would like to have a popular bar and meeting point.”
—Zoltan Konczol, general manager, Macau’s Heart Bar, on the city’s emerging “cocktail culture,” yet another twist on attempts to diversify entertainment in the world’s top gaming destination
“It’s very easy to go to Vegas and get sensory overload. Now multiply that by five, and that’s Macau.”
—Sean O’Reilly, Motley Fool scribe, on the enduring might of Macau, despite a two-year recession
“You’re going to see a different mix on the floor. So it’s not just your card games. You’ll have games of skill that involve slot machines, or an eSports area or a sports book where you watch sports or then you can go to the eSports book that’s just like a poker room.”
—Gaming consultant Daniel Holmes of RubinBrown, on the casino slot floor of the future
“The eSports market in 2016 is estimated to generate $3 billion in gross revenues, which is close to the $5 billion the NFL generates. According to Fortune magazine (October 2015), eSports revenue will surpass $9 billion in 2018.”
—Greg Speivak, co-founder of the Canadian League of Gamers, which has teamed with the Twenty-Nine Palms Band in California to create a North American professional eSports league, to Indian Country Today
“We started this process last year with two major points of contention around horse racing and the suitability issue. We’ve addressed one of those concerns in a way that’s brought together a coalition of support that we’ve never seen over the course of that decade.”
—Assemblyman Adam Gray of the California Assembly, remarking on progress made so far this year on his bill that would legalize online poker in the Golden State
“I realize the folks don’t want a casino. The fact is, there is going to be a casino. We don’t have jurisdiction over a sovereign nation. They don’t have to be here.”
—Bill Horn, member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, prior to a vote adopting a memorandum of understanding with the Jamul Indian Village over its $400 million Hollywood Casino Jamul-San Diego
“Yet, month after month, the closed meetings continue and the public remains shut out. It’s time some light was shed on what’s happening. Our community and our state deserve to know.”
—Paul M. Harrington of the Hartford Courant, criticizing theConnecticut Airport Authority for meeting multiple times in secret to talk about a proposed third Indian casino in the state, at Windsor Locks
“Our tribes have called this land home long before it was named Connecticut, and we refuse to sit back and watch a casino company from Las Vegas take our jobs and revenue,”
—Kevin Brown, chairman of the Mohegan Tribe, explaining the efforts of the Mohegan and Pequot tribes to build a third satellite casino in Connecticut to protect their existing casinos from depredations of the planned MGM Entertainment casino resort in Springfield, Mass.
