A New Jersey State Assembly committee has advanced a resolution that hopes to clarify the state’s plans for casino expansion into the northern part of the state, but still leaves major questions unanswered—such as exactly where the casinos will be located.
New Jersey voters will decide in a referendum in November to allow two new casinos to be built in the northern part of the state. They would be the first casinos allowed outside of Atlantic City.
Polls, however, show that the referendum will likely be defeated. One of the key criticisms of the plan is that the referendum does not outline the sites for the new casinos, the tax rates they’ll pay or how that money will be allocated.
And this new resolution doesn’t answer those questions either.
“We are being told this resolution will clarify questions so the voters can make an informed decision,” said Assemblyman Chris Brown, an Atlantic City-area Republican and one of the staunchest opponents of the ballot question according to the Associated Press. “We are telling people it’s going to answer their questions, yet there is not one spot in the bill where it tells you where the casinos are going. There is no mention of what the tax rate is. This is simply deja vu all over again, the same recycled argument that you’re not backing by any facts. There aren’t any.”
Even supporters of the plan are expressing frustration with the referendum.
“It is rife with ambiguities,” said Assemblyman John McKeon, a northern New Jersey Democrat who supports expanding casinos. “North Jersey casinos are coming, if not this time, then in two years, when we may get smart enough to say, ‘It’s going to be in the Meadowlands.”
If the referendum fails, another cannot be put before voters for two years under state law. The referendum states that the two new casinos would be built somewhere in northern New Jersey, at least 72 miles from Atlantic City, and that each must cost at least $1 billion to build.
The referendum doesn’t mention the two most prominent proposals for the casinos. Jeff Gural, operator of the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford has partnered with Hard Rock International and proposed a casino at the track, while Reebok footwear magnate Paul Fireman proposes a $5 billion casino resort in Jersey City.
The non-binding resolution was sponsored by Assemblyman Ralph Caputo and says the Legislature intends to provide funding for Atlantic City, senior citizens, local governments and the horse racing industry. However, no tax rate is mentioned other than the eventual rate will be “considerably higher” than the 8 percent Atlantic City’s casinos now pay, according to the AP.
Meanwhile, spending on advertising both for and against the referendum has reached record levels in the state.
The AP reports that groups supporting and opposing the plan have spent nearly $20 million on their advertising. That figure could still double by Election Day.
Most observers feel that the anti-expansion forces have clearly won the public opinion battle and opposition groups easily outspent the pro-expansion forces.
Trenton’s Bad Bet, looking to defeat expansion, raised $11.6 million and spent $11.3 million from July through September, according to the AP. Its backers came mainly from new York-based including Genting New York, which operates Resorts World Casino in New York and gave about $6 million. The group is a subsidiary of Malaysia-based Genting Malaysia Berhad.
Our Turn NJ, which supported expansion but last month announced it would quit the effort, raised $10 million and spent $8.5 million. Its funding came from Fireman and Gural.
Fireman and Gural acknowledged last week that both public and private polling shows the referendum has little chance of succeeding.
The spending far outpaces the 1976 effort to approve gambling in Atlantic City, according to Election Law Enforcement Commission documents. That effort topped $5.5 million, adjusted for inflation and is the old record for spending on a referendum questions in the state, the AP said.
Finally, a new study released by New Jersey Policy Perspective echoed previous reports that concluded that expanding casinos into Northern New Jersey would probably lead to at least three casinos closing in Atlantic Cavity due to competition.
