“The Chinese have a table game-centric gaming culture and have long embraced baccarat and sic bo. While the Japanese enjoy oicho-kabu, they have a long-established history as a machine-centric gaming culture, as they are enthusiastic pachinko players.”
—Global Market Advisors, in a white paper explaining why slots may be more important to the Japanese casino market than tables
“Definitely within the next five years, Macau will grow back to the $45 billion gaming market. And that’s just the gaming alone, because the non-gaming part is significant.”
—Lawrence Ho, chairman and CEO, Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd., who says he is “extremely bullish” on Macau
“I wish it was a perfect world. I say that all the stakeholders revisit the challenges we face and face it together to find a resolution that benefits not only the investor but also the community.”
—Mark O. Rabauliman, CNMI commerce secretary, on a controversial decision to extend the deadline for completion of Saipan’s Imperial Pacific resort
“The center of the universe is moving to Asia. A lot of this growth is driven by China. The Chinese market has gone from 58 million outbound trips in 2010 to 135 million now.”
—David Scowsill, CEO, World Travel and Tourism Council, on increased international travel among the Mainland Chinese
“At best, they’re delaying online gambling legalization, which means they’re delaying revenue flowing into the state’s coffers. At worst, they’re trying to kill online gambling and, with no other proposals on the table, all but ensuring tax increases are coming.”
—U.S. Poker blog, on the Pennsylvania state House proposal to implement online gaming as part of the state lottery, which critics say would hurt land-based casinos instead of helping them as in New Jersey’s setup with casinos running the sites
“If Adelson, the major sports leagues and our leaders in Washington would only begin some private discussions couldn’t all roadblocks be removed? … The stalemate in this country has lasted long enough. Let the ‘back channel’ negotiations begin.
—Robert Mann, columnist for Gaming Today, making the point that government should negotiate with Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson, a major Republican donor, to help repeal the federal ban on sports betting in exchange for possible restrictions to online gaming, which he opposes
“At the very top here you have eSports. There’s a common misconception within the gaming industry that gaming video is all about eSports. It’s not. There are other constituencies. You’ve seen a lot of buzz around eSports in the last few years, of course—it represents about 14-31 percent of live gaming consumption across platforms—but there are all these other constituencies to address. Developers are making trailer drops and things like that, or making community-based content to interact with their players.”
—Stephen Ellis, strategic partnership manager for Facebook to GamesBeat on the growth of video gaming
“I love the game, I have been playing the game to the point where I am deeply in love with the game, and I see what the game is missing, and it’s missing me. I believe in bringing people closer together. Today is the day that poker just got fun and real.”
—Kevin Hart, comedian, at the announcement of his new spokesman deal with PokerStars
“Unfortunately—I have a tremendous respect for our competitors in town—but Atlantic City has turned into a 1 and a 1/2 night town. We are committed because we have the entertainment power, to make the commitments to do an act on a Wednesday night.”
—Jim Allen, Chairman of Hard Rock International to the Press of Atlantic City on his company’s plans for its new Atlantic City casino, formerly the Trump Taj Mahal
“You can get anything you want on the ballot in Maine as long as you have enough money.”
—Garrett Mason, member of the Maine Assembly, criticizing a ballot initiative effort to authorize a third casino in the state
“The land’s been vacant for several years. We had always hoped to build a casino on it, but when we saw the opportunity to do it was when the casino opened in south Washington.”
—Delores Pigsley, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in Oregon, talking up a proposed tribal casino in Salem
“The voters defeated the expansion of gambling four times and ultimately only approved it on a limited basis,” he said. “Not only would it be unethical to expand gambling in this way, it is possibly unconstitutional.”
—Aaron Baer, president of Citizens for Community Values, opposing a measure that would allow Ohio’s seven racinos to offer video poker
