\nATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) \u2013 Top New Jersey officials may be moving toward letting voters decide whether to expand casino gambling beyond Atlantic City a few years earlier than expected.<\/p>\n
\tBut Atlantic City\u2019s mayor sounds like he\u2019s already there \u2013 and confident others will get used to a redesign of the East Coast gambling spot.<\/p>\n
\tMayor Don Guardian says Atlantic City is in the midst of a painful switch from a gambling-centric resort to one where betting is only one of many things to do.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cAtlantic City is a destination in transition; there can be no doubt that significant changes are beginning to take hold,\u201d he told reporters Thursday on a conference call with national media outlets to promote tourism in his city.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe will endure the pain that comes with transitioning from an economy overly reliant on a single industry,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know there are growing pains; they will diminish over time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tGuardian said he believes top elected officials still strongly support the city, and will give it the full five-year turnaround time \u2013 through Feb. 2016 \u2013 that Gov. Chris Christie promised before considering expanding gambling to the northern New Jersey Meadowlands and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\tBut within the last week, State Senate President Steve Sweeney has suggested a voter referendum in 2015 on expanding casino gambling beyond Atlantic City, and Christie has said he\u2019d at least talk about it with Sweeney.<\/p>\n
\tLegislators from northern New Jersey have long said a casino in the East Rutherford Meadowlands sports complex, where the NFL\u2019s Jets and Giants play their home games, would be among the most successful in the world. On Wednesday, a venture capitalist floated a plan to build a $4.6 billion casino in Jersey City, not far away.<\/p>\n
\tThe news for Atlantic City\u2019s casino industry has been mostly bad this year: The Atlantic Club shut down in January, taken down by two rivals, stripped for parts, and shuttered. Revel Casino Hotel is back in bankruptcy court for the second time in as many years and says it might shut down this summer if a buyer can\u2019t be found. And Caesars Entertainment says it will close the still-profitable Showboat Casino Hotel Aug. 31 to reduce the amount of casinos in the oversaturated Atlantic City market.<\/p>\n
\tGuardian and city tourism and marketing officials say Atlantic City\u2019s non-gambling revenues have increased by $160 million over the last two years, and are approaching $1 billion annually, even as casino revenue continues to plunge. Luxury tax receipts have been climbing in recent years, as have sales of food and entertainment tickets, and retail outlet transactions.<\/p>\n
\tCaesars Entertainment is building a new $126 million convention center in the Marina District to attract more convention and meeting business \u2013 another key part of Atlantic City\u2019s makeover.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cYou\u2019ve got to look at my city as a book,\u201d Guardian said. \u201cThe chapter on gaming is closing. I\u2019d like you to find a mile of beach anywhere from Cape Cod to Key West that has the amount of investment that Atlantic City has.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tUnlike many here, including thousands of casino workers who have lost or could soon lose their jobs, Guardian embraces the shift from a casino mecca to a destination with more diverse offerings. He says the market will eventually set the proper number of casinos here.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt\u2019s healthy,\u201d Guardian said. \u201cIt\u2019s the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) \u2013 Top New Jersey officials may be moving toward letting voters decide whether to expand casino gambling beyond Atlantic City a few years earlier than expected. But Atlantic City\u2019s mayor sounds like he\u2019s already there \u2013…<\/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-7653","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\/7653","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=7653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}