A casino in New Jersey outside Atlantic City? You can check it out next week
Who says you can’t enjoy casino gambling in New Jersey outside Atlantic City? Actually, the New Jersey government says so, that’s who. In the Garden State, Atlantic City is the only jurisdiction that’s allowed to house casinos. If you live outside of Atlantic City, you have to head to the seaside resort town or venture out of state to gamble live.
But that could very well change if Hard Rock International and Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment have their way. They casino entertainment superpowers are hoping that the law in New Jersey changes to allow for casino gaming elsewhere in New Jersey.
While they haven’t gone so far as to actually build a property and hope that casino gaming pans out, they’ve gone beyond the drawing board and are in the planning stages.
Next Wednesday, June 3rd, the two companies will publicly unveil their plans for a casino in East Rutherford, New Jersey. But these are more than just renderings. The companies will also show a fly-through video and exhibit project details in other exciting ways. They’re obviously ready to flip the proverbial switch and put the shovel in the ground.
Some people are happy about this proposal, particularly those who might stand to benefit from the project, like the companies proposing to build it, and people in and around East Rutherford. But others aren’t as enthusiastic.
In Atlantic City, thousands of employees are out of work and several casinos are struggling to remain open. Allowing gambling in other pockets of the state could put the existing Atlantic City casinos further in to debt. Or, it could actually help them.
By allowing other casinos in other parts of the state, the New Jersey government could actually make sure a percentage of generated tax money is earmarked to help Atlantic City rebound. The money would be fed to the state, so it’s not like it’s just local economies that are exclusively benefiting.
What’s more, competition is actually a great thing in the casino world. Over in the online world, we welcome new competition and rivals with other casinos. It encourages every online casino site to step up its game in an effort to compete for business. That means better customer service, more impressive promotions, faster cashouts, and more good things for players.
This type of competition could encourage the Atlantic City properties to do more to attract new players to their land-based properties. That would ultimately encourage more tourists to Atlantic City, which would mean better economic prospects for everyone involved.
It should be noted, however, that this project is still in the fantasyland stage. Expanding casino gambling beyond Atlantic City would require a constitutional amendment, which is a pretty big deal in any state.
That said, two years ago, no one would believe that online casino games would be regulated by the state of New Jersey. And today you can play pretty much anywhere in the Garden State where you can get an Internet connection.
We’ll keep you posted as this story of New Jersey’s potential casino expansion unfolds, so stay locked to Palace of Chance for all the updates.
