“The better customers are people who have the money to choose where they want to go. They go where they are treated the best and where the facilities are superior. There’s a second approach to the business that’s more akin to, say, Wal-Mart. That is a mass approach, and that is what the Sands and others do. And they do that beautifully. We come to these people with a different message.”
—Steve Wynn, chairman and CEO, Wynn Resorts, who promises to build more gaming resorts in China
“Your Honor knows that the government claims that my client has a gambling business. Without being indelicate, I think it is fair to say that my client expressed to me that he intended to surrender after the Super Bowl.”
—Gerald McMahon, attorney for suspected mob associate Anthony (The Kid) Camisa, held without bail on racketeering charges, arguing at a bail hearing that his illegal bookmaker client’s prior flight was “for a practical reason,” and had been planned only to last until after the Super Bowl
“The biggest potential for growth is likely with new player demographics, particularly millennial audiences. Across our industry, operators and suppliers are trying to find the right products to resonate with millennials’ entertainment preferences.”
—Konami Gaming CEO Steve Sutherland, in an interview with GGRAsia
“The gambling industry has consistently ignored our pleas to stop blighting our high streets with the clustering of betting shops, which bring anti-social behavior and crime to the heart of our communities.”
—Sir Robin Wales, Newham Council, London, supporting a proposed reduction in maximum stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals in the UK from ?100 to ?2
“What must not be overshadowed in a debate about dollars and cents is the importance of consumer protections that regulated online gaming would bring. While Pennsylvania delays action, a black market that harms and takes advantage of consumers will continue to exist. Last October, another off-shore site shut down. Because there is no oversight in Pennsylvania, there is nothing affected players can do to hold sites accountable or get their money back.”
—John Pappas, Poker Players Alliance executive director in an op-ed piece for Philly.com on Pennsylvania’s efforts to pass online gaming legislation
“Well, I’m tickled pink to see it happen if it does happen. It’s like I keep saying, BLM said the sale could take up to two years. When I see the ground break, I’ll know that it’s here.”
—Richard Blakley, mayor of Dinosaur, Colorado, commenting on the possibility of the Ute tribe building a casino in his town
“There’s got to be an element of fairness. We are trying to make a case to save horse racing.”
—Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter of Idaho, commenting on efforts to bring instant horseracing terminals back to the state’s racetracks
“In the 1990s tribal casinos were given the sole right to operate machines that look like the kind of slots you’d see in Las Vegas. Today the tribal casinos have become glittering entertainment centers. That’s helped swell the gambling business to a $3 billion industry.”
—Carolyn Adolph, KUOW radio, talking about the growth of Indian gaming in Washington state
