NJ owners see threat from proposed casinos for NYC
A New Jersey casino executive and the state's top gaming lobbyist said during a major casino conference Wednesday that a New York City casino could be a “threat” to the gambling industry in New Jersey.
Those remarks by Mark Giannantonio — president of Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City and president of the trade group the Casino Association of New Jersey — echoed similar remarks made by a top gaming executive last year.
Jim Allen, Chief Executive Officer of Seminole Gaming and chair of Hard Rock International, which owns a hotel casino in Atlantic City, predicted that between 20% and 30% of Atlantic City's traffic comes from North Jersey and the New York City area, according to gambling trade publication PlayNJ.
Three licenses are currently being offered to casinos eyeing the New York City area.
“They're going to be Las Vegas-style massive properties and they will generate new business — of course people coming up from South America, Europe, Asia,” Giannantonio told reporters after a panel hosted by the East Coast Gaming Congress at Hard Rock in Atlantic City Wednesday.
“It's also going to impact eastern Pennsylvania, Atlantic City, Connecticut," he said. The prospect of a casino directly servicing the North Jersey market is nothing new — consider the unsuccessful bid for a casino in the Meadowlands — but the notion has picked up steam in recent years.
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is lobbying state officials for his plans to build an $8 billion casino with Hard Rock near Citi Field in Queens. Sands has plans for a sprawling casino resort on Long Island, having already completed a long-term lease purchase of property at the site of the Nassau Coliseum.
Meanwhile, Wynn Resorts and developer Related Cos. are partnering with plans for a $12 billion casino at the Hudson Yards area in Manhattan along the Hudson River.
Another casino has been proposed for Times Square, and another on the East Side close to the United Nations world headquarters.
“If it ends up in Manhattan, either
Hudson Yards, Times Square or the East Side, it's going to be fairly devastating, I think, for Atlantic City,” said David Naczycz, executive director of the Fintech and Sports Wagering Innovation Center, based out of Jersey City.
A casino elsewhere in the New York metro area, such as Queens, would be less impactful for Atlantic City, he said.
“The trip from Montclair to far east Queens is just as bad as the trip down to Atlantic City, and there's more tolls,” Naczycz said.
Getting Atlantic City's affairs in order
Earlier this week, Atlantic County prosecutors alleged that Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. and his wife, Atlantic City Schools Superintendent La'Quetta Small, physically abused their teenage daughter. Small has denied wrongdoing, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Marty Small's predecessor — former Mayor Frank Gilliam — resigned after pleading guilty to wire fraud in 2019, related to the alleged theft of $86,000 from a youth basketball team he started, according to the Press of Atlantic City.
Giannantonio declined to comment on the current mayor's allegations, but admitted that Atlantic City had its work cut out for it.
“Improving infrastructure, beautifying it. Let's match the streets with the beautiful aspects of the ocean,” he told reporters. “Let's take care of our homeless," he said. "There needs to be an investment there and programs that would take a homeless person from the streets or under the boardwalk, to get them the help they want.”
And he said, police presence needs to be expanded and public safety improved.
Meanwhile, Republican State Sen. Vincent Polistina, R-Atlantic County, proposed overhauling Atlantic City's government by halving the size of the elected city council from nine to five, replacing four members with appointees, according to the Press of Atlantic City.
Atlantic City has been under state control since teetering on the verge of bankruptcy in 2016.