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State of Play’s TL;DR
- Lawmakers missed the deadline to put casino expansion before New Jersey voters this year.
- It means a vote to add casinos in Northern New Jersey will have to wait until next year.
New Jersey lawmakers missed the deadline to put casino expansion before voters this November, meaning any statewide vote is now delayed until at least 2027.
The proposal would have allowed casinos at the Meadowlands Racetrack and Monmouth Park.
The missed deadline stalls one of the state’s most closely watched gambling policy debates as New York moves closer to opening new casinos in and around New York City. Supporters say that puts more pressure on New Jersey to decide whether it wants additional casino properties outside Atlantic City.
The one advantage: New Jersey online casinos are still legal, and New York has yet to make a significant push towards legalization.
Missed deadline pushes any vote to 2027 or later
The proposal centered on two sites: the Meadowlands Racetrack and Monmouth Park. To place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in New Jersey, lawmakers need either a supermajority in both legislative chambers or passage by a simple majority in two separate legislative sessions.
Jeff Gural, owner of Meadowlands Racetrack, had been optimistic that the measure would be on this year’s ballot. He said he was “disappointed and truthfully shocked” that the measure did not move forward in time.
Dennis Drazin, CEO of Darby Development, which operates Monmouth Park, said the Legislature’s focus on passing the state budget contributed to the delay, and he also pointed to resistance from influential South Jersey lawmakers.
A recent poll of residents showed that most respondents opposed expansion.
Atlantic City opposition remains a major obstacle
The proposal has faced clear opposition from lawmakers representing Atlantic City, who argue that casinos outside the city would further weaken the existing nine Atlantic City casinos. That split has long complicated efforts to expand land-based casino gambling elsewhere in the state.
Supporters of the measure argue the opposite case: that new casinos in North and Central Jersey could help keep gambling dollars in-state as New York advances its own casino plans.
Based on reporting by Focus Gaming News.
