Legislation

US – New Jersey says ‘no’ to two new casinos in the north

By Phil - 10 November 2016

New Jersey has voted against the introduction of two new casinos in two Northern counties, near New York City, in a move welcomed by the existing seven casinos in Atlantic City.

Atlantic City’s struggling casinos had warned that new in-state competition would have forced three to five of the city’s casinos to close. The two additional casinos would have been at least 72 miles north of Atlantic City.

Morris Bailey, owner of Atlantic City’s Resorts casino, said the vote was ‘an important step to our return to becoming a world-class resort.’

Debra DiLorenzo, Chairwoman of the No North Jersey Casinos Coalition, added: “We are grateful to the voters of New Jersey, who by soundly defeating this constitutional amendment, spoke loudly and clearly that gaming belongs in Atlantic City, period. The coalition will remain active over the next election cycle to continue the dialogue on why the expansion of gaming to North Jersey is a bad idea for our state.”

Reebok CEO Paul Fireman and developer Jeff Gural, who funded the campaign Our Turn NJ, said they were ‘disappointed but not surprised.’

They had proposed building casinos at Jersey City and the Meadowlands Racetrack

They said in a statement: “We do not view the failure to pass Question No. 1 as a rejection of gaming expansion but as a rejection of our state’s current political climate and a failure to have all the facts presented to them. New Jersey has to start from the beginning on gaming expansion. What the people of this state need to see is a transparent, competitive plan that outlines in full detail how gaming expansion would work.”

However some lawmakers are already proposing that racetracks at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford and Monmouth Park in Oceanport could circumnavigate the vote by bidding to launch Video Lottery Terminals which could be classed as a product of the already-legal state lottery.