The New York Times details the latest attempt to save Atlantic City: a new casino that Gov. Christie helped build thanks to $261 million in state tax credits.

The state bailout of the $2.4 billion Revel casino came after private investors walked away from the half-built project. As Atlantic City’s gambling fortunes continued to decline, Morgan Stanley had decided to walk away and a $1.4 billion loss rather than keep plowing money into the casino. Then Christie stepped in with the state bailout.

To recap: New Jersey legalized casinos three decades ago to generate tax revenue and to save Atlantic City. Now the state has decided to plow hundreds of millions of dollars into a private business in order to prop up its struggling gambling industry. Oh yeah, and more than 30 years later, Atlantic City remains mostly a dump.

Now the state is throwing more good money after bad. This, in a nutshell, demonstrates the failed policies of casino gambling.

“There was a reason that the private sector wasn’t stepping up. If they believed there was an opportunity to make money, they would have funded this.”  Deborah Howlett, the president f New Jersey Policy Perspective, an advocacy group that opposes state financing told The Times.

This sad story gets worse (as detailed in a blog post last month). The other big reason states tout casinos is for the jobs they create. Indeed, the Revel project is expected to create 2,600 construction jobs and 5,500 permanent jobs. But here’s the catch as detailed in The Times: “Many of the jobs, however, particularly positions like dealers, waiters and cocktail waitresses, will have four- to six-year terms, requiring employees reapply for their own jobs at the end of the term. No other casino has a similar hiring policy, according to Local 54, the union that represents Atlantic City hospitality workers.

“These are the jobs you’re creating?” said Mr. C. Robert McDevitt, president of Local 54. “People aren’t able to plan their future in four-year bites. It’s just unconscionable.”