“Granting credit can become predatory: casinos might become eager to extend easy credit to patrons with poor credit in order to attract them to play at their establishment; unregulated interest rates may be usurious; and the terms of repayment may be uncertain or spawn defaults.”
—Verin Valdez, author of a UNLV paper that says Japan casinos should “prohibit the extension of credit at least to its citizens and permanent residents”
“The good news is the Pennsylvania legislature passed an online gambling bill. The bad news is the state has saddled its prospective online casino operators with an exorbitant tax rate on their online slot revenue… In the end, the decision to increase the state’s cut of revenue with a high tax rate will likely backfire. Pennsylvania is almost certainly going to receive less tax revenue. And the state could cause some potential operators to sit on the sideline.”
—Columnist Steve Ruddock, in an Online Poker Report column criticizing the 54 percent tax rate Pennsylvania lawmakers approved for online slot games
“We do not improperly manipulate our gaming machines. Any employee found breaching our codes and practices would face severe disciplinary consequences. Mr. Wilkie’s inferences and commentary are deeply offensive to Crown, our board of directors and our employees.”
—John Alexander, executive chairman, Crown Resorts, on suggestions by Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie that Crown tampers with its pokie machines
“Companies need to be more transparent than they were 10 years ago. From my perspective it is a conversation that the board should have because we are living in a world of more and more transparency.”
—James Packer, chairman, Crown Resorts, under fire from anti-gaming activists at Crown’s annual general meeting in Melbourne
“The idea that mainstream journalists were not able to gain access shows the bunker mentality at Crown. The very first test of whether they are truly considering increasing transparency will be seeing if they release a full transcript of today’s meeting.”
—Stephen Mayne, Alliance for Gambling Reform, who quizzed Crown Resorts CEO James Packer at the company’s annual general meeting
“We’ll get the implementation bill—but who knows when?”
—Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO, Las Vegas Sands Corp., discussing Japan on a third-quarter earnings call
“Casinos violate the law at will, and the workers can no longer tolerate it. Tobacco control in casinos has not achieved satisfactory results.”
—Leong Sun Iok, Macau Federation of Trade Unions, who says city casinos routinely try to get around no-smoking laws. The former croupier wants permanent inspectors to monitor smoking activity
“To safeguard the authority of the national anthem—one of the national symbols—is to safeguard the authority of the state, the people and the Chinese nation.”
—Zhang Rongshun, Chinese National People’s Congress, on a new law that carries penalties of up to three years in jail for people in Macau and Hong Kong who disrespect the national anthem
“The purpose of Question 1 is to create a gaming and entertainment venue in Maine, to produce Maine jobs and contribute tax revenues to Maine education, Maine veterans, and Maine property tax relief. We’re proud to have recruited a variety of folks from inside and outside Maine to accomplish this.”
—Mike Sherry, a consultant for the Progress for Maine campaign, which wants to persuade voters to authorize a third casino in the state
“I really hope Maine people see through this one,” Katz said. “To me this isn’t about whether you like casinos or not. It’s about whether or not we are going to get fooled again, and I hope we don’t.”
—Senator Roger Katz of Maine, calling on voters to reject Question 1, which would authorize a third casino in the state
“The cavernous morass of casino expansion in Connecticut grew deeper and wider Tuesday as the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs blew off a deadline to approve or reject the deal that allows the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes to build an East Windsor casino.”
—Dan Haar, writing about the confusion that has arisen over whether the new compact between Connecticut’s gaming tribes and the state is legal
“I was surprised about how pervasive gambling is in our American culture. It really is everywhere. There are 44 state lotteries, 200,000 places where you can buy lottery tickets, and look at online betting — if you have a cell phone, you are potentially carrying a casino in your pocket.”
—David Clary, in his new book Gangsters to Governors: The New Bosses of Gambling in America
“We felt that our market-making background could be conducive to sports trading because the challenges of analyzing large amounts of data in real time is a core competency of ours. Although trading volumes for U.S. sports on European betting exchanges are not currently significant, sports trading seemed like a good domain to extend what we do in other markets, and we’ll see if the trading volume materializes.”
—David Pollard, Pennsylvania-based Susquehanna International Group’ head of strategic planning to Bloomberg News on the company setting up a sports wagering unit in Dublin
