North Jersey Casinos

[el pirata]

Just saw an ad on television touting the benefits that opening up casinos in North Jersey would have. Pretty depressing commercial actually emphasizing the negative effects new casinos in others states have brought to senior programs like Meals on Wheels (trying to strike a chord with that demographic I presume).

Moved to Jersey City after graduating in 2011 and originally grew up in Camden County, but have really only followed this topic off-hand for a while. Was wondering what some of you think about the effects casinos in North Jersey might have if approved?

 

[Section112]

I think NJ and AC screwed it up years ago when they did not clean up Atlantic City when they had the chance. Casinos were popular and the graft and corruption took over and noone in NJ was really watching the store - they were watching their pocketbooks grow at lots of poor peoples expense down there. The opportunity was ripe for renewal and better employment for the folks of AC and they blew it. They did not tout the ocean and make it a better beach destination and that was a huge mistake. Now its an even sadder place with a few places full of glitz but with a city situation that is even more dire today.

Not sure I like the idea of more casinos in the north. In the end it won't help anyone except a few politicians and casino owners. It's all window dressing IMO - I say no because noone in NJ politics has shown me they can manage it and that it helps anyone in NJ.

 

[knowknow456]

I live in the northern half of the state. I gamble 4-8 times per year. One or two times I go to AC. The rest of the time is split between Mt. Airy, Sands & Yonkers all of which are closer to me than AC. All those trips are tax dollars moving out of state. Give me a casino in Northern NJ and I will go there.

AC is not losing my gambling dollars to a casino in the Meadowlands. They have already lost it to Pennsylvania and New York.

 

[SPK145]

I never like the parochial nature of casinos only in Atlantic City and now NJ suffers because of that decision. DE, PA, and NY siphoned off huge gambling revenues from NJ so I think this is a good idea to have North NJ casinos, provided no crony capitalism is involved.

 

[cernjSHU]

I do go to AC often and I happen to like going to AC. My casino of choice is the Borgata which is a great hotel and casino. The hotels in PA do not compare to the AC casinos especially the Borgata. What has killed AC was the inane decision not to be part of sports gambling spear-headed by Bill Bradley. This was what hurt AC more than anything else. If NJ had sports gambling, no other neighboring state could touch it.

I don't like the idea of a Casino in northern NJ. 1) Where do you put a casino in which it won't be a traffic nightmare? The meadowlands or Jersey City? I can't think of two worse locations. 2) if you do open up the casinos in the north, AC will be destroyed.

What must be done is to foster development of the streets between the boardwalk and the Outlet shopping in Atlantic City. And, hotels must step up their game to the Borgata type of hotel. Revel attempted to do that but was a disaster because 1) They charged substantially more than the Borgata for a room, 2) No Smoking, 3) No Comps, and 4) A horrifically designed Casino.

 

[HALL85]

If you are going to put up a casino, you need to have a long-range strategic plan. PA has used an interesting strategy where you can only have one casino within a certain geography. The Sands in Bethlehem, while not that sexy, has been an important cornerstone for the redevelopment of the region. They have also done a very effective job of marketing into New Jersey and even New York City to the Asian community. Sustained success and it's driving a lot of growth on the southside of Bethlehem in particular. This is where AC has failed. They put up the casinos and did nothing else in the city which has left them open to competition from PA and NY.

 

[SnakeTom]

I agree with those posters who point out why AC failed. They put up the casino's but did nothing about improving the city and it is beyond me why they did not use the beaches as part of the promotions. Regardless the surrounding states have taken significant numbers of patrons away. I don't know what could be done now to help AC. But as far as north jersey is concerned it is an opportunity for much revenue to the state if done properly (of course this is NJ where the word properly rarely happens). Anyway hoping that NJ learned a lesson I would be in favor of casino's in the North.

Tom K

 

[Bobbie Solo]

I'll be voting no.

 

[Seton75]

While I tend to agree that gambling should not be so limited, I have no faith in any revenues being used as the say. I remember the mantra in the 70s, start a state income tax to pay for Schools instead of local property taxes.

 

[Save Continental]

While I tend to agree that gambling should not be so limited, I have no faith in any revenues being used as the say. I remember the mantra in the 70s, start a state income tax to pay for Schools instead of local property taxes.

Those tolls on the parkway will be coming down any day now, too.

 

[knowknow456]

Every time a NJ citizen gambles a dollar at a Pennsylvania or New York casino, we are losing some portion of tax revenue.

Economically, there is no choice but to allow a casino in the Northern half of the state. From my individual perspective, AC will gain nothing if the referendum is rejected. I will continue to go to AC when it suits me, and the rest of the time I will go to PA or NY.

 

[SPK145]

I'll be voting no.

Just curious, why not?

 

[Bobbie Solo]

Just curious, why not?

- more casinos is not something that really gets me excited. Not into gambling. And if we're going to build more, I'd prefer that we try and save AC with it as opposed to building an unnecessary one up here. The economy up here is humming along just fine from what I see, unless they plan on building this in the middle of Paterson or Newark (they're not).

- Christie is backing this, so that puts my antenna up (Warning! Warning!). I don't trust him or his motives, part. in this area after the crony capitalism he did with the Revel debacle.

- I'd be much more excited about a public referendum that dealt with "better" jobs, for lack of a better word. Something infrastructure-related, manufacturing, tech,industrial...heck, maybe even the renewal energy industry (shudder to think!). Something meaningful & productive to society, not just some temporary construction jobs (good) and then a whole lot more service industry jobs (bad) with some mgmt thrown in. I hate the direction this country is going in terms of becoming more & more of a service industry society. We don't BUILD things like we need to.

 

[HALL85]

I'm not a fan of adding more casinos in the North either. Haven't we learned our lesson from AC? Short term gain, that will turn the city into a ghost town once again. Personally, I'd rather see a plan to get more people into AC. Unlike some of the other areas in PA and NY where there are casinos, you can actually make AC more of a destination for company trade meetings, etc., which they never did. Now with the Sands (Bethlehem) and Parx, the PA money is going to stay in PA and I don't see anyone from Morris County west wanting to take on the traffic in the Meadowlands just to pull a slot arm when they can get to the Sands in an hour with no hassle.

 

[SnakeTom]

The object is not so much to attract Pennsylvania money as it is to get NYC money coming across the river as well as to attract north jersey gamblers which there are quite a few of to keep their gambling $$$ here in our state. The big negative of course could be the added traffic in an already saturated area.

Tom K

PS: I'm all for it just as long as it is not here in Union County - LOL.

 

[Muggsy Blue]

Don't care where they put them as long as they keep them out of Bergen County.

 

[donnie_baseball]

Don't care where they put them as long as they keep them out of Bergen County.

The people of Bergen County have been saying that a long time, and not just about casinos.

 

[lloyde dobler]

Funny how all the "Trenton's Bad Bet" commercials are being funded by the owner of the casino at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Can't believe none of the North Jersey media have jumped on that.

One of the casinos would obviously be at the Meadowlands. The racing industry in this state also needs this. The jobs at stake aren't just at the racetrack. If the racing industry in NJ disappears, so do dozens of farms and tons of open space all across NJ, especially in the central part of the state.