Most New Jersey residents are opposed to allowing more casinos outside of Atlantic City, according to a new poll.
The poll found 56 percent of voters oppose casinos elsewhere in the state, while 35 percent said casinos should be located outside of Atlantic City. The poll was conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University and comes as some lawmakers in North Jersey are pushing to allow casinos in the Meadowlands as a way to generate more tax revenue from gambling losses.
The push to add more casinos across the state is in response to the steep drop in gambling tax revenue coming out of Atlantic City, due in large part to increased competition from Pennsylvania and other area states. At the same time, New York lawmakers, led by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, want to legalize commerical casinos in the Empire State. Such a move could further cut into the number of gamblers traveling to Atlantic City – manily to lose money.
However, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic lawmakers in South Jersey oppose adding more casinos in other parts of the state. Instead, they want to focus efforts to lure gamblers back to Atlantic City. But so far those efforts – which include a new casino, a new marketing campaign and cuts in regulation – have yet to stop the bleeding in Atlantic City.
But at least most voters in New Jersey understand that the answer to the drop in gambling is not more gambling. Perhaps they know that 30-plus years of gambling Atlantic City has failed to revitalize that shore town. Not to mention that adding casinos in other cities is not a worthy policy when it comes to generating jobs or tax revenue.
