by: Gene Koprowski.
A new poll shows that New Jersey
residents think casino gambling should expand in their state -- but the
expansion should be concentrated in Atlantic City. The casinos oppose proposals to allow slots at New Jersey racetracks, fearing that woulderode Atlantic City's revenue.
The Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind poll indicates that 70 percent of those surveyed think gambling should be allowed only in the 11 Atlantic City casinos.
Joseph Corbo, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, said he was heartened by the poll results.
"Atlantic City is already contending with new competition and the nationwide recession," he said. "Adding competition in our own state would make Atlantic City's challenges even worse, and would result in additional job losses, tax revenue declines and reduced purchases from New Jersey vendors. Most New Jersey residents clearly understand that Atlantic City is an economic engine for our entire state, and are unwilling to jeopardize its future by unnecessarily expanding gaming."
Atlantic City is now in the third year of a revenue downturn that began shortly after slots parlors opened in the Philadelphia suburbs in late 2006 and early 2007. Those gambling halls, which do not offer table games, nonetheless gave gamblers who once had little choice but to go to Atlantic City the option to play much closer to home.
For all of 2008, Atlantic City's casinos took 7.6 percent less from gamblers than they had in the previous year.
Atlantic City's casino industry agreed last year to give $90 million over three years to sustain New Jersey's horse racing industry. In exchange, slot machines will not be permitted at New Jersey's racetracks through 2011.
The 1976 referendum that approved casino gambling in New Jersey explicitly said it would be limited to Atlantic City only. A vote on the same topic two years earlier failed in part because it would have permitted casinos in other parts of the state as well.
The statewide telephone poll of 751 registered voters was conducted between Feb. 25 and March 2.
Seventy percent said they oppose casino-style gambling in locations other than Atlantic City, while 24 percent favored it, and 6 percent were undecided.
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