Gambling expert calls push for expansion of New Jersey’s casino industry outside Atlantic City “the height of insolence”
While online gaming and digital sports betting have emerged as a big boost to Atlantic City’s land-based casino industry, gambling experts do not expect that casino gambling will be expanded beyond the popular resort anytime soon.
Online gambling went live in New Jersey in 2013 and the sector generated more than $1 billion in revenue through 2018. As for sports betting, the practice was legalized by state lawmakers last June and New Jersey’s sportsbooks have so far generated more than $54 million. The biggest part of that amount came through digital channels.
Responding to the buzz that lawmakers might be considering the possibility to launch a new push for expanding the state’s land-based casino industry beyond Atlantic City, gambling expert Roger Gros has said that now is definitely not the time for such effort. Mr. Gros is the publisher of Global Gaming Business Magazine.
Atlantic City has kept its monopoly over brick-and-mortar casinos for more than four decades. However, while the city was the only place on the East Coast where casino gambling was legal back in the day, competition has grown immensely in the past 10-15 years with new commercial properties springing up along the coast all the time.
New Jersey lawmakers have suggested that competition in the region could be blunted by expanding the state’s casino industry beyond Atlantic City.
Expansion Could Start Another Downward Spiral for Atlantic City
Regional competition and the aftermath of the great recession plummeted Atlantic City’s casino industry into a horrific crash and burn that culminated in the closure of five of its twelve casinos between 2014 and 2016.
Two of the shuttered casinos reopened last summer – rebranded and under new ownership – to signify the revitalization of the market.
Mr. Gros said that Atlantic City now has nine operational casinos and that most of these run “at a fairly good rate.” However, the expert warned that “any kind of increased land-based competition” in the state could “completely reverse that positivity and start Atlantic City on a downward spiral once again.”
Mr. Gros attributed the revitalization of Atlantic City’s casino industry to the rising interest in online gambling and mobile sports betting. The expanded effort to bring various non-gambling entertainment activities to the city has also been hailed as a booster of its casino sector.
Casinos in North Jersey Would Only Enjoy Short-Lived Success
The most recent effort by lawmakers to put an end to Atlantic City’s casino monopoly was overwhelmingly rejected by New Jersey voters during the 2016 ballot. Back then, state residents were asked whether they supported the development of up to two casino resorts in North Jersey.
The expansion push was backed by major companies, including Florida-based casino and hospitality operator Hard Rock International, and businessmen with interest in casino assets, including real estate developer Jeff Gural and Reebok founder Paul Fireman.
Mr. Gros said that with 4 out of 5 voters rejecting the casino expansion proposal, reviving the effort to break Atlantic City’s monopoly would be “the height of insolence.” The gambling expert went on to say that discussions about establishing casinos in New York City continue and that casinos will eventually be opened in that city, so any success a North Jersey casino might have at first would be short-lived and be put an end to once neighboring New York expands its own industry.
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