Nothing is official, but southern New Jersey organizers of a coalition to oppose expanding casino in New Jersey say they expect help from out-of-state casinos—the very competition that has devastated the Atlantic City market.
But with the resort’s reduced casino market apparently stabilizing, organizers now fear new casino construction in the northern part of the state will finally destroy Atlantic City. And as they say, politics makes for strange bedfellows.
Voters in New Jersey will be asked in November to approve construction of two casinos in northern New Jersey in a referendum. While the referendum does not say where the casinos will be built, Jersey City and The Meadowlands are considered the leading contenders.
Wherever the location, the new casinos are expected to draw heavily from New York and Pennsylvania, competing with casinos there.
That means casinos in those states and Atlantic City share opposition to the plan.
Speaking to the Press of Atlantic City, several officials involved in the “No North Jersey Casinos” coalition said they expect to receive help from the out-of-state casino interests.
The report cited potential allies including Sands Bethlehem, a Pennsylvania casino that draws heavily from North Jersey and New York City and Resorts World Casino at the Aqueduct complex in Queens, New York.
Officials for the casinos did not comment, but coalition member Bob McDevitt, who heads Atlantic City’s main casino-workers union, said it would be logical for Resorts World to join the coalition.
“I believe that they are very deeply involved in No North Jersey,” he told the paper, noting that new casinos would also affect Pennsylvania properties.
“It flows west, to Sands Bethlehem, in a big way and, in a smaller way, to the Mt. Airy casino in the Poconos,” he said. “Besides Atlantic City it’s anybody’s guess who suffers the most.”
Joseph Kelly, president of the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce said that the coalitions first aim is to organize southern New Jersey interests, but he expects the coalition will then look for other backers.
“I do think you’ll see the effort move north,” he said.
New Jersey Assemblyman Chris Brown, R-Atlantic, who has been one of the most vocal critics of the referendum, said, however, that a move to recruit casino interests into the coalition is already underway.
“I know that they’re being reached out to and courted,” he told the Press. “This is so important. We must expand the coalition outside of New Jersey to ensure success.”
