Governor of New Jersey Signs Aid Bill for Casinos in Atlantic City

Phil Murphy, the Governor of New Jersey, has made an announcement by signing a bill on Tuesday that the government will be providing relief to the casinos of Atlantic City, which will help in preventing the closure of 4 of them. This action taken by the Democratic governor provided a great relief to the casinos from the existing laws, which will help in making payments instead of property tax to the Atlantic City of Atlantic County as well as the school system. The law reduces the number of such payments that casinos will have to make in the upcoming year.

The bill was passed by the state Legislature on Monday.   

The outgoing Democratic President of the state Senate, Steve Sweeney, has made an announcement that at least four out of nine casinos of Atlantic City are in the problem of shutting down before the sanction of the bill and signing of the law. He has provided little proof to back up his allegation, and none of the casinos has made a claim publicly. 

The New Jersey’s Casino Association has stated on Tuesday that they will give their 100% efforts to protect the jobs of thousands and offer stability as well as a certainty to the casino market. This step will help all the casinos in making a recovery from the COVID 19 pandemic by lessening the surge in the payment instead of property taxes. However, the casinos will still be paying a huge amount to the county, schools, and city even after enacting the bill because this bill will only help in reducing the increased amount.

The casinos are expected to make a payment of around $10 million to $15 million in 2023 if the bill is passed. And without the bill, the payments are going to increase by 50%.

The recent market trends also state that the total number of casinos is going to increase. However, the casinos stated these facts show a twisted picture of the real financial condition, including the amount from sports betting and internet gambling. Sports betting and online betting money should be equally shared among third-party providers such as sportsbooks and technology platforms. This is one of the main reasons the bill eliminates those two different revenue streams, which are the most rapidly increasing in the Atlantic City casino business.

The casino owners reportedly say that their prime business, which is winning funds from in-person, has rapidly decreased from the year 2019, which means before the onset of the pandemic. On the other hand, the two newly built casinos – Ocean and Hard Rock, have witnessed huge revenue from in person gambling since 2019. According to the New Jersey’s Casino Association, the seven other casinos have lost a combined 22 percent since 2019.

In a nutshell, the overall casinos business is witnessing a significant decline. The law helped in preventing appeal in return for the certainty of understanding in detail about financial responsibilities. The previous version of the measure was passed five years ago when the city was dealing with the shut down of five of its twelve casinos.