TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – New Jersey’s Senate president said the possibility of having casinos in northern New Jersey will be “dead” if a bill for a statewide referendum on them is not passed on Monday.
Steve Sweeney said Friday that New Jersey will have lost the opportunity to expand casinos beyond Atlantic City if the bill is not passed on the final day of the legislative session. He predicted opposition from southern New Jersey lawmakers will be too strong to get a bill approved in the next session that begins Tuesday, where more votes would be needed.
“I think it’s done; I think it’s over,” Sweeney said. “The opportunity to have casinos in north Jersey will be lost. It’s a shame.”
An impasse between Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto – both Democrats – over the issue shows no signs of ending. The bills differ on who can own the casinos, and how much tax revenue would go to help Atlantic City.
Sweeney’s bill would require that both casinos be owned by existing Atlantic City casino operators, though he softened that stance to permit outside companies to partner with Atlantic City operators and own up to 49 percent of a new casino. The Assembly bill would only require one of the two to be owned by an existing Atlantic City operator.
The Senate bill initially would send 50 percent of gambling tax revenue generated by the new casinos to help redevelop Atlantic City; the Assembly would send 35 percent.
Sweeney repeatedly asked why Prieto, from Hudson County, would jeopardize as many as 12,000 jobs in his own part of the state. Sweeney also said backers of the Assembly bill want to clear the way for casino magnate Steve Wynn to get one of the two licenses. A spokesman for Wynn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prieto accused Sweeney of grandstanding, and vowed that the Assembly will not pass the Senate bill on Monday.
“I challenge the Senate president to spend less time preening at press conferences and more time truly working together on what is so obviously needed at this point: a compromise that will pass both houses with enough votes during the next session,” Prieto said.
Sweeney said there will not be enough votes in the next session to pass a north Jersey casino referendum bill because more votes will be needed – a three-fifths majority that he said has “no chance” of happening due to opposition from southern New Jersey lawmakers.
Pressed on why the proposal could not be revived in ensuring years, Sweeney conceded that it could, but cautioned that New York plans to authorize casinos in New York City in a few years.
“I can’t say it won’t ever happen, but by 2018, New York will have approved a casino in Staten Island,” Sweeney said. “It needs to be now because we have the opportunity now.”
Sweeney also said he will set a minimum of $1 billion investment in a north Jersey casino to prevent “slots in a box” casinos with little other attractions. But doing so would make a proposed 55 percent tax rate that Meadowlands Racetrack operator Jeff Gural has offered to pay unfeasible.
“It’s insulting to anybody that can count,” Sweeney said. “You can’t take 55 percent out of your profit, and pay the interest on a billion dollars.”
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Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
