Governor Phil Murphy is allowing smoking in Atlantic City casinos starting today, along with indoor dining and movie theaters reopening.
Hooray! September 4 is the new July 4.
Senator Declan O’Scanlon says Murphy is hypocrite for allowing small businesses to languish for months but illogically calling for smoking indoors at casinos during the pandemic.
Freeholder Director Tom Arnone today announced his opposition to the public question that would amend the New Jersey Constitution to allow casino gambling in Northern New Jersey.
“My first responsibility as a Freeholder is to make sure Monmouth County’s interests are my top priority,” Arnone said in an announcement released by ‘Trenton’s Bad Bet,’ the group that has been campaigning against the constitutional amendment, “Unfortunately, the ballot question on casino expansion is misguided, shortchanges our horse racing industry, and favors a small group of out-of-state, special interests.”
“In no way does this legislation help Monmouth County,” Arnone concluded.
The question of new casinos will be on the November ballot, and I believe it’s a good idea, but only if done the right way. Like any business, the casino industry needs to build on existing resources and use potential synergies to its advantage. This means taking advantage of existing betting sites. I’m talking about the racetracks – the Meadowlands, Monmouth Park and Freehold Raceway. These tracks strike the perfect balance between the desires to expand gambling and keep it contained. The tracks are experienced in handling gambling and have everything from the technology to parking in place. These are the only places where we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, and there’s more to it than that.
ATLANTIC CITY — An appeals court Thursday upheld a lower court ruling allowing the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa to mandate weight limits for servers known as “Borgata Babes,” the New Jersey Law Journal reported. More than 20 of the servers, who are required to wear revealing uniforms, objected to the policy, arguing it only affected… Read the rest of this entry »
New Jersey Governor Christie on Friday signed a revised sports betting bill, and Monmouth Park officials almost simultaneously said they would offer betting on National Football League games at the horse track on Oct. 26. “The Governor’s signature on S2460 earlier today is a wire-to-wire winner for horse racing, the gaming industry and the people of… Read the rest of this entry »
A majority of New Jersey residents oppose expanding legalized gambling in the State beyond the borders of Atlantic City, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson Public Mind Poll released this morning. 50 percent oppose casinos outside of AC. 42 percent favor expanding gambling venues in New Jersey.
Men favor casinos elsewhere in the State by a small margin, 48-46, while women are opposed , 53-36. Young adults aged 18-34 are in favor of gambling venues outside of AC, 52-38. Those aged 35-50 are opposed, 53-41 and those over 60 are opposed by a 56-36 margin.
Of the 819 respondents, those who have been to Atlantic City within the last 12 months are most likely to favor casinos elsewhere in New Jersey, by a 52-35 margin. Those who have been to casinos elsewhere but not in AC favor new gaming halls in New Jersey by a much narrower margin, 47-45. Those who have not been to a casino in the last 12 month are opposed to expanding gambling in NJ by 45-40.
When asked if they favored expanding to the Meadowlands or Monmouth Park in Oceanport, the Meadowlands was favored. Respondents favored opening casinos in the Meadowlands by a 47-45 margin. They opposed casino gambling at Monmouth Park by narrow 44-43 margin.
Is anyone surprised that New Jersey’s efforts to revitalize Atlantic City are failing?
The news that AC’s latest hope for revival, Revel, is on the verge of bankruptcy and foreclosure is no shock. As Trump’s multiple bankruptcies over the years demonstrated, casino lenders are the biggest losers, next to bussed in seniors lured by a free roll of quarters, in AC.
Vice has always been the key to Atlantic City’s economic viability. For good reason. The place is a dump. You have to drive through a swamp to get there. It is very inconvenient. The lure of doing something enjoyable that is forbidden elsewhere has been the key to Atlantic City’s economy since the days of Nucky Thompson.
Now that legalized gambling is available in more convenient places and liquor is legal most everywhere, Atlantic City is doomed, unless it comes up with a new vice to make available.
NEWS from the STANDARDBRED BREEDERS & OWNERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW JERSEY
MANALAPAN, NJ November 30, 2012 — The loss of New Jersey stallions to slots-enriched programs in other states is now a reality.
Perretti Farms in Cream Ridge, NJ has announced that it has moved two of the harness racing industrys premier stallions to Pennsylvania for the 2013 breeding season.
Muscles Yankee and Rocknroll Hanover will be relocated from Perrettis 1,000 acres of prime farmland in Upper Freehold Township across the state line to Newtown, PA to take advantage of the casino-enriched purses in Pennsylvania, especially the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes program.
The New Jersey Sire Stakes program, which for three decades was the model for other states and provinces, is now one of the weakest because of the paucity of purse money.
New Jersey is no longer competitive, putting more than 170,000 acres of equine farmland in jeopardy, said Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association President Tom Luchento. Without a healthy breeding program, the stallions and broodmares will move have moved — to adjoining states where they are flushed with the cash from casinos and racinos [racetracks with casino-style wagering].
Not only is the preservation of farmland at stake, but also more than 10,000 jobs currently filled by tax-paying residents who are ill-equipped to change careers and will end up on welfare rolls, Luchento added.
Trenton continues to focus on ways to improve Atlantic City and other businesses which provide fewer jobs, while the horseracing industry gets pushed aside, Luchento said. They have tried to Band-Aid the problem with a few short term solutions. Meanwhile, the wound continues to grow, and the decision by Perretti Farms is a pure product of that injury.
Chairman Ramos, and members of the Assembly Regulatory Oversight and Gaming Committee, thank you for inviting me to speak before you today on this
important topic. I am Oceanport Councilman Joseph Irace.
When the State of New Jersey voted to allow casino gambling in Atlantic City in 1976, it marked the dawn of an era wherein, for close to a decade and a half, New Jersey had a de facto monopoly on casino gambling on the East Coast. That era ended in 1992 with the advent of Foxwoods Resort Casino. In the years since then, we have seen a steady encroachment upon Atlantic City’s position as the premier East Coast destination for casino type gambling. New York, Connecticut, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland now offer substantial gaming options to the general public. Indeed, as of April of 2012, Pennsylvania’s gaming industry was second only to that of Las Vegas. Quite clearly, the landscape has changed immeasurably since 1976 and New Jersey’s stranglehold on the East Coast gaming industry is no more. This isn’t an Atlantic City gaming industry problem, it is a New Jersey business development and retention problem.
Similarly, three decades ago, the State of New Jersey was a pre-eminent player in the horseracing industry. The Meadowlands, Freehold Raceway, Monmouth Park, Atlantic City Race Course and Garden State Park — the latter three called the “Golden Triangle” of New Jersey racing — all offered top notch, stakes level horse racing at quality venues. As we are all aware, the New Jersey horseracing industry has suffered setbacks over the past few decades and the root of these setbacks can be traced to the same source as that which has negatively impacted on Atlantic City. New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia have all committed to the Racino business model and this has placed the State of New Jersey’s horseracing industry at a decided disadvantage. Again, this isn’t a horseracing industry problem, it is a New Jersey business development and retention problem.
For far too long now, New Jersey’s gaming industry and New Jersey’s horse racing industry circled each other warily as opponents. It is high time that they stop viewing each other as competitors and start viewing themselves as comrades at arms with a singular purpose: melding both industries in such a fashion that New Jersey once again becomes the East Coast’s premier gaming AND horse racing destination. Based on the revenues generated by Racinos in the surrounding states and across the nation, the question of whether or not these two industries can co-exist, and indeed THRIVE, is no longer arguable. Quite simply, if New Jersey’s gaming and horse-racing industries fail to embrace this new business model, both will perish and the State of New Jersey will be lesser for it.
Our elected officials and both industries need to stop thinking parochially and start thinking globally. The infrastructure, manpower and talent are already in place. We just need the desire and commitment to get this done, and get it done sooner rather than later. The State of New Jersey has waited long enough to get its act together. The states that have already embraced the Racino business model have demonstrated that what is good for the horseracing industry is good for the gaming industry and vice versa. More importantly, what’s good for those industries is also good for all of New Jersey.
I implore our legislators to make every effort to convince these two parties that it is imperative that they stop competing with each other and start complementing each other in order to re-capture the hearts, minds and loyalty of their consumers. If the gaming and horse racing industries fail to adapt to the new paradigm, neither will survive. And that won’t be a gaming or horse racing problem — that will be a tragedy for the State of New Jersey.
