“In the case of this course, gambling can be used as a prism to view economics, religion, government, public policy, public health, marketing, consumer behaviors—so many different things.”
—University of Maryland Professor Stephen McDaniel, on his course “Gambling in the New Millennium,” which covers all forms of U.S. gaming as well as problem gambling issues
“The thinking behind what we’re doing is the economic model that says we control the gaming floor but a slot machine or table alone isn’t going to bring in the tourists, you need to have traction drivers around those gaming floors. Tourists aren’t just coming for gaming. If it was only about the gaming, it would be a risky proposition.”
—Matt Bekier, CEO, Star Entertainment, on the company’s massive investment in Australia’s Gold Coast, including up to six new hotels and entertainment features
“There’s a mythology about money laundering in casinos, but it’s not an obvious place to launder money when you have your picture taken and recorded at every point. That’s not to say that if you have a corrupt management you wouldn’t have a problem, but that is why there is so much effort on identifying who the investors are and who benefits by all regulators.”
— Jennifer Williams, former CEO of Britain’s Gambling Commission
“A casino operator is required to have its books, accounts and financial statements relating to the operations of its casino audited. The audit enables the municipality to ensure that the revenues reported by a casino are accurate, because the revenues are the basis for calculating taxes which can then be used for local public purposes such as education, law enforcement, and programs for the youth and elderly which are vital to the public welfare.”
—Tinian Gaming Commission, which just rescinded the license of Hong Kong Entertainment, owner of the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, which went unaudited from 2008 through 2014
“Sometimes, it takes an out-of-towner to show it’s possible to go up against Boston’s most powerful politician—a brash, trash-talking out-of-towner, particularly one with deep pockets. On the local gambling front, that’s Steve Wynn.”
—John Chesto, of the Boston Globe, commenting on Steve Wynn’s success in pushing his Wynn Boston Harbor casino against the opposition of two successive Boston mayors Thomas M. Menino and Martin J. Walsh
“I’ve been pounding on a whole lot of you for a lot of years. It’s absolutely imperative that we do this.”
—Ed Barnes, chairman of the Labor Roundtable of Washington state, praising the Vancouver City Council for voting to drop its opposition to the Cowlitz tribe’s casino near La Center
“The role of the legislature is to ratify or not ratify the terms of the compact as negotiated with the governor. The legislature does not have the ability to define what Indian lands are eligible for gaming.”
—Steve Stallings, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, responding to an editorial in the Sacramento Bee that asserted that the voters of California and the legislature should have a say in whether off-reservation land is put into trust by the federal government
“Is there a time limit as to how long this discussion can go on? How many weeks in a row can we do this?”
—Ryan Zeigler, a resident of Ridgecrest City, California, which has so far this year had four public meetings on a proposal to host the Death Valley-based Timbisha Shoshone’s off-reservation casino
