Casino gaming in New Jersey is now restricted to Atlantic City, located at the southern end of the state. New Jersey lawmakers are considering a series of far-reaching changes for the seaside resort on Tuesday Jan. 12, 2016, including asking its casinos to pay more under a tax assistance bill.
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Figures released Wednesday by the state’s Gaming Enforcement Division show the city’s eight casinos took in $2.56 billion in 2015.
After months of obsessive arguments largely focused around how many casinos to allow in Northern New Jersey and where, the state legislature is one step closer to a Constiutional amendment that would expand legalized gambling, in the form of one casino each, to two communities located in two of the thirteen northernmost counties in the state.
Moody’s Investors Service issued a report that warned of a “potential credit negative” for Atlantic City’s finances if voters approve the referendum. A waterpark, Dreamworks amusement park, aquarium, Legoland, and the largest indoor ski slope in the Western Hemisphere, a casino would only add to the grandeur and contribute to the already staggering attendance numbers some are projecting $5 billion project will have when its complete in 2017. Twelve casinos were in operation at the start of that year, but four – The Atlantic Club, Showboat, Revel and Trump Plaza – all shut down in 2014.
Sweeney and two other state senators said they planned to introduce legislation that would give the state even more control of the city’s financial management.
Barrow said he has completed his “market analysis” of each of five proposed sites’ ability to “recapture” revenues that would be lost to the Springfield casino as well as their impact on the “mother ships”, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. “Now there are 30-something casinos in the northeast, and we’re about to have gambling in the northern part of the state”.
The new bill represents a compromise between the competing bills of State Senate President Steve Sweeney and New Jersey Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto.
Brown called again for further study of new casinos’ effect on overall state revenue, saying that rivals like Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-28) have moved forward without weighing the consequences.
“If they are allowed to do this in Atlantic City, they will be allowed to do it anywhere”, Guardian said of the takeover. The biggest revenue increases among the eight properties came at Golden Nugget (up 25 percent) and Resorts (16 percent). In 2006, over $5 billion was taken in by casinos, a year ago it was just half of that number.
However, North Jersey’s proximity to Manhattan and the NY greater metropolitan area makes a casino market there an attractive option. Many believe the bill dooms Atlantic City and lacks clarity.
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According to a draft of the bill, which had not been formally introduced as of Tuesday night, the state Local Finance Board would be given control of “any of the functions, powers, privileges, immunities, and duties of the governing body”.
