Beginning of the end for New Jersey

New Jersey voters opposed statewide Gambling and only supported a re-tread version that was limited to Atlantic City - on the pretext of 're-vitalizing' a poverty-stricken, falling down city.

Much like the arguments offered on Beacon Hill, it's okay if it's "over there some place" - Middleboro, Fall River, that other un-named western Massachusetts town. Let them deal with the increased crime, increased traffic, drunks on the road from 24/7 free alcohol. Just as long as it's 'not in my community.'

I listened, at a loss for words (a rare occurrence) as Senator "NIMBY" Hart wanted to exempt his community from the devastation caused by Slot Barns, that he proudly supported elsewhere.

And here we are, all these years later, with New Jersey addicted to Gambling Revenues and decades of wrong fiscal policies, giving Casinos a bailout and reducing regulations.

The Gambling Vultures, where ever they go, use whatever buzzwords the public willingly accepts to support their revenue extracting enterprise - public schools, care for the elderly, and so it goes.

This looks like the beginning of the end for New Jersey.


Senate bill would provide tax break for casinos

TRENTON — Atlantic City casinos will receive a tax break worth up to $25 million a year — at the expense of the PAAD and other programs — under a bill scheduled for a vote in the state Senate Monday, two analysts said.

The tax break, the analysts said, will reduce revenue that otherwise goes to pay for prescription drugs for low-income seniors — the Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled program — and other social services, such as transportation for the elderly and disabled.

Klatzkin said the tax break would make Atlantic City casinos more competitive with casinos in nearby states that do not tax promotional items and thus are more able to entice customers to come.

"I'm sure the state has no financial problems at all, right?" Wortman said. "Why are they acquiescing to the casinos to eliminate that? I thought the Democrats and Republicans in the Statehouse were supposed to look out for the citizens, not the casinos."

Carl Zeitz, a former member of the Casino Control Commission, said that Pennsylvania taxes its casinos, in total, at more than half of their revenue, while New Jersey charges the 8 percent.

"It really comes down to one thing — convenience gambling," Zeitz said...