Debate Heats Up Over Gambling for Northern New Jersey
Voters will weigh in this fall on whether to allow casinos outside Atlantic City
New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney, at a rally Friday in support of a referendum that would allow casinos outside Atlantic City. PHOTO: WAYNE PARRY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
RUTHERFORD, N.J.—After a bitter battle over a proposed state takeover of Atlantic City, supporters of a gambling expansion are ramping up efforts to convince voters to allow two new casinos in the northern part of New Jersey.
Lawmakers agreed in January to allow a ballot referendum this fall on a proposal to expand casinos into northern New Jersey.
Gambling parlors are restricted to Atlantic City, and some fear the city’s financial problems—and the lengthy, acrimonious debate over how to keep it out of bankruptcy—may have soured the state’s voters on casinos.
“I think it’s going to be extremely difficult to pass gaming in northern New Jersey,” said Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat. “People are seeing what’s going on with gaming and looking at all the problems and reading all the headlines…and saying, ‘Is that really what we want for our town?’ ”
Mr. Sweeney, a co-sponsor of the proposed constitutional amendment to allow gambling in northern New Jersey, said he isn’t “giving up yet” on the Nov. 8 referendum. On Friday, he attended a rally in support of the expansion in Rutherford, near the Meadowlands site where New York real estate mogul Jeffrey Gural wants to build a $1.3 billion casino in partnership with Hard Rock International.
Mr. Gural, who operates the Meadowlands racetrack, said he suspended his plans for a public campaign in support of the referendum while lawmakers spent the last five months debating a financial rescue package for Atlantic City.
“All you were reading were these dire predictions of doom from Atlantic City and we weren’t going to be able to counter that,” Mr. Gural said.
Last week, Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, signed legislation that gives the city, which opposes a state takeover, until October to balance its budget. Now that the Atlantic City legislative battle is over, “we’ve been able to go on the offensive,” Mr. Gural said.
Mr. Gural said he is planning an aggressive social media and public campaign ahead of the November election, but doesn’t know yet how much he will spend.
‘All you were reading were these dire predictions of doom from Atlantic City and we weren’t going to be able to counter that.’
Lawmakers and business leaders from southern New Jersey have said they would vigorously lobby against the referendum, which they fear could devastate the region’s economy if approved.
Assemblyman Chris Brown, a Republican who represents Atlantic City, said he has already begun working with southern New Jersey chambers of commerce to organize an opposition effort. As for financing, the campaign plans to raise “as much as we can” for social media messaging, public town halls and television advertisements, he said.
“We’re going to point out to families in New Jersey that approving casinos in north Jersey will not solve any problems, in fact it will only exacerbate the competition with Atlantic City,” Mr. Brown said.
Supporters of the expansion said they were heartened by a Monmouth University poll released this week that found voters are split, 48% to 48%, on whether to allow casinos in northern New Jersey. Previous polls showed a majority of voters opposed to allowing casinos outside Atlantic City.
Mr. Christie, who brokered the deal to allow a referendum on a gambling expansion, said on Wednesday that he hasn’t decided whether he will campaign in support of it. The fight over a state takeover of Atlantic City put the referendum’s chances for success “at almost a complete flat line,” Mr. Christie said last week.
“All it would do would be to ameliorate, on a short-term basis, the cash hemorrhaging,” said Steven Perskie, a former chairman of the state Casino Control Commission. “North Jersey casinos are the single greatest threat to Atlantic City’s future.”Supporters of northern casinos have tried to frame the proposed expansion as advantageous to Atlantic City, saying the city stands to gain up to $200 million a year in redirected tax revenue from the new casinos. But opponents doubt that Atlantic City would get that much, or that it would make up for the blow caused by the increased competition.
A Fitch Ratings analysis released Thursday said the expansion of gambling in northern New Jersey could cause up to four Atlantic City casinos to close.
Mr. Sweeney said he believes northern New Jersey casinos would more likely compete with casinos in New York and Pennsylvania than those in Atlantic City.
MORE ON NEW JERSEY CASINOS
- Atlantic City Bid to Stay Afloat Hits New Phase
- Laid-Off Casino Workers Largely Bypass State Job-Training Program
- Christie Links Atlantic City Takeover and Northern Casino Expansion
- New Jersey Voters Will Weigh Casino Proposal
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