An appellate court panel heard the state’s appeals Wednesday in two cases over 2021 amendments to the law determining how much money casinos pay in lieu of property taxes.
Atlantic County and the nonprofit Liberty and Prosperity won their cases in Superior Court in 2022, arguing that removing internet gaming and online sports betting from calculations of how much casinos would pay cost county taxpayers $5 million a year, violated a 2018 consent agreement to settle an earlier lawsuit and violated the state Constitution.
Tim Sheehan of the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, arguing for the state, said changes in the law were needed because a large share of fast-growing internet and online sports betting revenues is kept by a third party and not by casinos.
