“Japan is the best opportunity outside Macau, so the competition is going to be very intense: the largest gaming and entertainment firms from around the world as well as local large-scale Japanese firms will head for it. But we’re still confident about it.”
—Lawrence Ho, on Melco Crown’s determination to win one of the first gaming licenses in Japan
“The negative pressure level at -5 is a very high standard that is usually applied in hospitals and laboratories. The main aim of adopting the negative pressure mechanism is to prevent the diffusion of smoke. This standard is achievable for casino operators.”
—Ambrose So, CEO, SJM Holdings Ltd., on the advanced technologies available to make Macau casino smoking lounges workable
“It’s interesting that a company that has capital of less than $6 million, that has only five employees that we can locate—and they’re all directors—is wanting to take on coal mining, property development, and in particular this integrated resort development. That’s with no experience, no staff, limited expertise and certainly no capital to invest of their own.”
—Steve Gration, president, Save Our Spit Alliance, which opposes ASF Consortium’s planned development of a massive casino on Australia’s Gold Coast
“I will never invest $5 billion to $10 billion in setting up a casino in a place where local people are not given access to that casino.”
—Sheldon Adelson, Sands chairman and CEO, on his requirement that any Sands casino in Vietnamese must permit locals
“Gomez and his fellow Crown executives, in the interests of self-preservation, are said by friends in Malaysia to have sung like canaries in detention.”
—Malaysia Outlook, in an article about Crown Resorts employees held for five months in a Shanghai detention center for “gambling crimes”
“We’re concerned about the fact that the public has not been informed about the costs only given an idea about the potential benefits and we’d like there to be a balanced argument made. We believe then people can make a decision about what they’d like to see happen.”
—Denise Terry, of the Coalition Against Casino Expansion in Connecticut, which opposes a third tribal casino proposed by the Mohegan and Pequot tribes
“Young people want games of skill and not just fantasy sports or online gambling. We have to consider what people want and what we should be giving to casinos to remain competitive with other states.”
—Rep. Scott Petri, chairman of the Pennsylvania House Gaming Oversight Committee, on including provisions for skill games in the General Assembly’s omnibus gaming bill
“People deserve to know whether this self-proclaimed ‘statewide gaming watchdog’ is indeed independent of conflicts of interest – or merely a ‘guard dog’ for established casino tribes and card rooms, as many suspect.”
—Charles Banks-Altekruse, a consultant and writer, criticizingCheryl Schmit, longtime director of Stand Up for California, which frequently battles casino expansions in the Golden State
“Today, gambling disorders are recognized under the ACA’s essential health benefits. We believe this recognition, which did not exist prior to the passage of ACA, is critical not only to enable adequate funding for research, but also to ensure necessary resources and treatment facilities are available.”
—The American Gaming Association, and other gaming industry groups, writing to Congress and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price urging retention of benefits for problem gambling in revisions of Obamacare
