“I believe that a next step in the evolution of the European market is the expansion of mobile gaming solutions. Europe’s online gaming market is one of the most mature in the world, so the proliferation of mobile solutions that can enhance or extend the traditional casino environment is both relevant and imminent.”
—IGT CEO-International Walter Bugno, to Yogonet in an interview on the European market and this week’s ICE trade show
“Several times I rescued addicts who called me at the last minute before killing themselves. Still, it’s extremely hard to stop them from returning to the casino if they manage to get money.”
—Bang Eun-keun, South Korean pastor, on gambling addicts who patronize Kangwon Land, the only casino of 17 in the country open to locals
“It is a short-term blip and over the next year things will calm down. This is the Asian century and we are targeting a long-term Asian tourism boom.”
—Louis Chien, director, ASF, a Sino-Australian company backing a casino on Australia’s Gold Coast
“We do expect the border casinos in cities like Bavet in Cambodia to bear the brunt of the downside, as the border casinos have historically captured the lion’s share of Vietnamese customers.”
—Grant Govertsen, analyst, Union Gaming, who predicts that Cambodian casinos will take a hit when Vietnam opens two gaming halls to locals
“It’s like I tell people, when I see the ground break then I know it’s here. Until then, you know, there’s a lot of red tape to it, it looks like.”
—Richard Blakley, mayor of Dinosaur, Colorado, commenting on the possibility of a casino being built there by the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah And Ouray Reservation
“Time is not our friend. MGM has steel going up. Any delay in this process, whether it’s at the town level, the state level, isn’t going to be helpful.”
—Rodney Butler, Pequot tribal chairman, commenting on the process of approving a third, tribal casino for Connecticut to blunt the effects of the MGM Springfield in Massachusetts
“They are on a fast track. We want to keep pace with that if we can and also do our due diligence required for the town.”
—Stuart Hardy, chairman of the Tiverton, Rhode Island planning board, pledging to make the Twin River Tiverton casino happen as soon as possible
