\nBy GEOFF MULVIHILL
\n\tTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
\n\tTRENTON, N.J. \u2014 New Jersey lawmakers say a venture capitalist wants to build a $4.6 billion casino in Jersey City, a move that would be possible only if the state would make a major policy change and allow casinos outside of Atlantic City.<\/p>\n
\tState Sen. Raymond Lesniak, who said he was briefed on the plan about a month ago, says the plan calls for a more than 90-story hotel and residential tower, the world\u2019s largest Ferris wheel and a car-racing stadium that could seat more than 100,000 fans.<\/p>\n
\tThe plan was first reported by The Star-Ledger.<\/p>\n
\tThe investor behind the push, he said, is Reebok founder Paul Fireman. Fineman, who is based in Boston, did not immediately return a call to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis Paul Fireman guy is the real deal,\u201d Lesniak said. \u201cThis is a solid proposal and he\u2019s willing to put the money up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFor years, Lesniak has been calling to allow casinos outside of Atlantic City and then use part of the revenue to boost that resort city, which has been struggling for years largely because of increased competition in nearby states. Online gambling through the state\u2019s casinos, which became legal last year, has failed so far to be the savior its proponents were hoping for. One casino \u2014 The Atlantic Club \u2014 closed in January and two others \u2014 Revel and Showboat \u2014 have warned that they could, too.<\/p>\n
\tIt would take a state constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling outside of Atlantic City. Lesniak would like to see lawmakers take quick action to put it to a public vote on this November\u2019s ballot, but a public vote is unlikely until at least next year.<\/p>\n
\tSince Fireman\u2019s group has begun briefing politicians, Gov. Chris Christie and state Senate President Steve Sweeney have both talked about the possibility of allowing casinos elsewhere in the state.<\/p>\n
\tLesniak said the Jersey City proposal near Liberty State Park would be comparable only to casinos in Macau, the Chinese city that has become a gambling destination. He said something that impressive is needed to be an attraction with a pull large enough that it won\u2019t simply cut into Atlantic City\u2019s existing business.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis will compete with Macau and exceed it,\u201d said Lesniak, a Democrat from Elizabeth. \u201cWhat Macau doesn\u2019t have is the metropolitan area and the New York skyline.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAssemblyman Ralph Caputo, a former casino executive and the chairman of the Assembly\u2019s tourism and gaming committee, noted that the plans are preliminary.<\/p>\n
\tHe said the tax rate on any northern New Jersey casino\u2019s revenues should be at least 50 percent \u2014 far higher than the 8 percent Atlantic City casinos pay. And he said that unlike the Atlantic City\u2019s newest casino, Revel, there would be no tax incentives to help fund construction.<\/p>\n
\tCaputo said that despite Atlantic City\u2019s problems, casinos are still a powerful means for the state to generate revenue year after year.<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By GEOFF MULVIHILL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TRENTON, N.J. \u2014 New Jersey lawmakers say a venture capitalist wants to build a $4.6 billion casino in Jersey City, a move that would be possible only if the state would make a major…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}