Bring back Atlantic City as a beach resort

Bring back Atlantic City as a beach resort: poll

(Reuters) - New Jersey's Atlantic City should be brought back to life by refocusing on its sandy beaches and historic boardwalk rather than increasing state control of its casinos, a poll showed on Friday.

The poll accompanies debate in New Jersey on the future of its struggling gambling industry and ways to generate revenue to shrink the state's yawning budget deficit.

Republican Governor Chris Christie has said Atlantic City's role as a family playground could be improved with boardwalk amusement rides and the like.

But the former federal prosecutor's plan also calls for creating a new state authority to run the fading resort's gambling facilities. The plan proposes selling the Meadowlands racetrack or turning it into an off-track wagering site with no live races.

New Jersey voters said a state takeover of Atlantic City gambling was a bad idea by a margin of 46 percent to 33 percent, according to the Quinnipiac University Poll of 1,190 state residents.


"They want the place to be revived as a beach and boardwalk mecca," Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement. "Bring back romantic-enchantic Atlantic City, New Jerseyans say."