“The Bharatiya Janata Party government, which promised that casinos would be removed from Mandovi, has failed totally on its promise. They are permitting casinos of monstrous proportions in the lifeline of Goa. BJP is fooling the people of Goa by saying that they have reduced the number of casinos. Actually, BJP has done just the reverse and today Panaji looks as the capital of casinos.”
—Durgadas Kamat, Goa Forward Party, on villagers’ opposition to floating casinos on the River Mandovi off the Indian state
“We have a lot of interest from big travel agencies coming from different cities in China directly to Sihanoukville. The signals are much more solid as groups are signing contracts and putting down physical deposits for July and August.”
—Aharon Gini, general manager, Queenco Hotel and Casino in Sihanoukville, on the remarkable growth of the VIP sector in Cambodia’s casinos
“People are nervous. There is just no longer that quiet certainty that, in the end, Britain will vote to remain.”
—Unnamed European official, speaking before the British referendum known as “Brexit,” in which the UK chose did not choose to leave the EU
“We expect the ban on phone betting in Macau to benefit the Philippines VIP market. Proxy betting has been growing rapidly in Manila, which is supported by PAGCOR. ”
—Morgan Stanley, on the surge in VIP revenues in Manila’s Entertainment City. Aggregate GGR for April was up an astonishing 69 percent over 2015
“You lose that spontaneous impulse by people just wanting to come and visit. If we can make it easier for people to visit… they can have an amazing time and go back and tell great stories. We’re seeing a lot of return visits also. We are just getting started.”
—Geoff Andres, president, City of Dreams Manila, who says easing visa requirements for Chinese visitors will stoke tourism in the Philippines
“We don’t think that a $20 million get-out-of-jail-free card is appropriate for anyone who still may be captured by these carefully written provisions.”
—Jeff Grubbe, Aqua Caliente tribal chairman, explaining his tribe’s opposition to a California online poker bill that doesn’t contain what it considers to be a strong enough “bad actor” provision
“This has probably been the most vetted bill this legislative session, we’ve had weekly stakeholder meetings, we’ve done a series of amendments. In fact if we held every bill in this process to the standard we’ve held this bill, we wouldn’t have any bills.”
—California Assemblyman Adam Gray, author of AB 2863, which would authorize online poker in the Golden State
“We do not have a song for defeat, so we never learned how to give up.”
—Cowlitz Indian Tribal spiritual leader Tanna Engdahl speaking about the casino that her tribe is building near La Center, Washington after many years of struggle
“There is a cohesive system in place for converting revenues to state benefits, with casino operators paying the state 20 percent of the proceeds from table games and 67 percent of slot machines to help fund education and other programs. These same taxation guidelines and disbursals appear applicable to online regulation.”
—Editorial in OnlineCasinoReports.comcalling for Maryland, which has seen record gaming revenues this year, to legalize and regulate online gaming
“This has been a big year for table games. We’re pretty much hitting a new record every month. Obviously, slot machine revenues are flat, but table games are still growing.”
—Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board spokesman Richard McGarvey
“Only when pressed for details by the FNM is the prime minister reluctantly forced to admit the truth about this government’s secret dealings with the China bank and contractor on their Baha Mar debacle. Now we find out that the prime minister has ‘conceded’ that under the ‘Framework Agreement’ clouded in secrecy that he’s negotiating, ‘the Chinese are not obligated to compensate Bahamian contractors and their local creditors.’”
—Sidney Collie, chairman of the Bahamas’ opposition Free National Movement (FNM), on Prime Minister Perry Christie’s behind-the-scenes negotiations with financier China Export-Import Bank to restart construction on the stalled Baha Mar resort project
