“Tange is probably the leading architectural firm in Japan and has designed and built many of Japan’s most iconic buildings. It is assisting us in a design and architectural consulting capacity. We will be working to ensure the IR is designed sensitively and sustainably to attract global visitors to carefully integrate with local attractions and the community in mind.”
—Jeremy Walker, vice president, Galaxy Entertainment Group, on retaining an architect for what it hopes will be a winning casino bid in Japan
“This is not news. It’s a hoax. It’s just another attempt by the tribes to pull the wool over people’s eyes, which means the red flags raised by Attorney General George Jepsen remain as red as ever.”
—Uri Clinton, senior vice president and legal counsel for MGM Resorts International, on a letter from the U.S. Department of the Interior to the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes favorable to the tribes’ plans to partner on a third casino in Connecticut—which would compete with MGM’s Massachusetts property—after the state attorney general raised concerns that an off-reservation casino may be illegal
“Even in Macau, we are now having to diversify; that’s why all the concessions are building new facilities. It actually puts a greater emphasis on entertainment and attractions beyond gaming. We are interested in hotel management and ownership, and we are starting to look at Australia.”
—Pansy Ho, billionaire businesswoman, on Macau’s need to diversify beyond gaming, and the Ho family’s possible move Down Under
“If Bermuda just copies laws from elsewhere without fine-tuning them, it can cause detriment to the island. I am almost certain that with the right laws, gaming in Bermuda can be very successful and eliminate the concerns of residents falling prey to addiction of gambling.”
—Jaidah Bailey, casino management trainee, who’s achieved her goal to be “one of the first Bermudians to get trained in gaming”
“It’s not a matter of ‘Do we want 100 percent?’ We don’t think that’s what Japan wants. We think Japan wants us to have local partners, and we’re prepared to do that.”
—Edward Tracy, CEO, Hard Rock International’s Japan division, on the U.S. company’s willingness to accept a less-than-majority stake in a Japanese IR
“In a workplace, the harms can be tiredness, distraction—they might be at work placing bets. There’s absenteeism so people can go gamble. And then it gets to fraud.”
—Tony Goodfellow, Child and Family Services Gambler’s Help, Ballarat, Australia, on the problems of gamblers in the workplace
“In Japan, if someone is seen as a gambling addict, everyone will turn against the project. It’s a very absolutist view.”
—Yoshinobu Nisaka, who says Japan’s casinos should be foreigners-only. The Wakayama governor is pushing his city as a contender for a casino license
“eSports is definitely still at an early stage, it is unquestionably taking time. The audience might be small, but within its demographic, it is overindexing versus traditional sports on TV.”
—Dan Cryan, an analyst at IHS Markit, which recently released a study on eSports
“If we don’t stop some of these types of referendums in the legislature, they are going to get more and more and more extreme.”
—Senator Garrett Mason, Senate Majority Leader of Maine, arguing for reforms to the state’s initiative process
“The smaller companies don’t have that much revenue. Many of them wouldn’t be able to afford fees and regulations.”
—Peter Schoenke, chairman of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, predicting that the number of Daily Fantasy Sports companies will decrease, trending toward consolidation
