“No new game is going to entice everyone, but skill games, as my experience showed me, are a step away from traditional slot machines, which try to be as playable as possible to as many people as possible. Maybe appealing more selectively is one way to move ahead.”
—David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and an avid video gamer, in a column for the Green Felt Journal after he sampled the first skill-based games introduced at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas
“The public as a whole will be looking to see if they are going to become good neighbors or not. Casinos need to focus on building credibility before getting into what benefits they can bring to Japan. They have to prove they will accommodate to how Japanese society works. Only then can they start to advocate for themselves and their benefits.”
—Aston Bridgman, co-CEO, crisis management firm Finsbury, advising casino investors that they are “outsiders” in Japan and must work to win over the public
“Despite Abe’s latest blessing, casino legalization in Japan remains a big deal, but not a done deal. Even after passage of the first IR bill in December, I believe it’s still no better than 60-40 that there will be any legal casinos operating in Japan by 2024. (If anyone wants to bet on never, I’m offering 3-to-2 odds.)”
—Muhammad Cohen, Forbes magazine, disrupting the notion that integrated casino resorts are a sure thing for Japan
“I dropped out of school after Form Four to pursue being an air conditioning repairman because I was not the studious type. I was destined for a life of blue-collar work in Hong Kong until professional gaming came along.”
—Wong Kin-long, pro gamer and member of the Hong Kong Attitude e-Games team playing at the new e-Stadium in Taiwan
“The company probably wanted to replace us with new blood.”
—Former SJM casino dealer, identified as “Chong,” claiming he and other dealers were fired or forced to resign so SJM could hire less experienced workers
“You know, we’ve got strong competition in this market down in the Connecticut, with the Connecticut tribes. They’re huge Las Vegas-style sort of four-wall type resorts, and to distinguish this from that experience, we really want to embrace the downtown.”
—Mike Mathis, president of MGM Springfield, contrasting the difference between the downtown Springfield casino and Connecticut competition operated by the Mohegan and Pequot tribes
“Connecticut does not have the luxury of time, in fact, the clock is ticking. MGM is building and if we delay this opportunity to preserve these jobs, Springfield will be open, thousands of Connecticut residents will be laid off and the only winner will be MGM and the state of Massachusetts.”
—Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, urging the legislature to authorize a third casino in the state, one that would be operated by its two gaming tribes
“A gigantic industry dominated by large, out-of-state companies that contribute little to Maine’s economy is trying to write the rules that regulate it, right now in Augusta. And almost nobody knows that it’s happening.”
—Columnist Jim Fossel, commenting on a lobbying effort by fantasy sports companies to get a bill passed in Maine that they have largely written and submitted to lawmakers
“With Trump’s strong emphasis on individual and nuclear family economic opportunity, there is less attention for tribal government, tribal sovereignty, tribal land, and tribally-based economic development.”
—Duane Champagne, writing in Indian Country Today about how the Trump administration’s policies and cutting of the BIA budget threaten tribal sovereignty
