Fulop supports Sweeney's casino idea

[MÇA]

Looks like Lesniak is on board.


As Casinos Close in Atlantic City, a Push for More, Closer to New York
By CHARLES V. BAGLI
The New York Times
Aug. 18, 2014

With as many as four casinos shutting down in Atlantic City by the end of September, New Jersey is suddenly awash in plans for, well, more casinos.

The Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce is to unveil plans on Tuesday for a Las Vegas-style casino, two 1,000-room hotels, a one-million-square-foot convention center and a youth sports center at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, less than nine miles west of Manhattan.

The chamber says that it could be the most successful casino in the world, sitting northeast of MetLife Stadium, next to the planned American Dream shopping mall, water park and amusement park, and so close to New York City.

“We can turn this place into a fabulous sports and entertainment complex with elements for everybody,” said Jim Kirkos, chief executive of the Meadowlands Chamber, which has 1,120 corporate members. “We can really create an economic engine and make it a destination.”

Similar claims of glamorous, revenue-generating machines are being made by companies in New York State that are vying for casino licenses at locations within 50 miles of Manhattan.

But even as casino fever is intensifying near New York City, in Atlantic City, where the industry was once thriving, the picture is much bleaker.

The Atlantic Club casino closed in January; the Showboat casino announced that it would close Aug. 31; the Revel is to close in September, as is Trump Plaza.

The Meadowlands proposal, or vision, was prompted by discussions among Gov. Chris Christie; Stephen M. Sweeney, president of the State Senate; and other legislators about a constitutional amendment that would allow casinos outside Atlantic City.

This month, Governor Christie announced that he would convene a “summit” of local and state officials on Sept. 8 to discuss the future of Atlantic City.

“We’re happy that all of a sudden there’s this dialogue about gaming outside of Atlantic City,” Mr. Kirkos said.

For decades, there has been a political taboo against the expansion of casino gambling beyond Atlantic City for fear of undermining the 12 casinos there.

But Atlantic City casinos have been battered by the proliferation of casinos in surrounding states, especially Pennsylvania. Revenues have fallen by half since 2006. And now New York plans to license full-scale casinos within a short car ride of northern New Jersey and New York City.

So even as Atlantic City struggles to reinvent itself as a seaside resort and convention city that also happens to have gambling, some legislators, developers and gambling companies are looking to shore up New Jersey’s flanks against more competition.

“You’re losing four casinos in Atlantic City,” said Alan Woinski, publisher of Gaming Industry Weekly Report. “Why don’t you open a casino in another part of New Jersey? The customer in North Jersey is not going to Atlantic City anymore. They drive 70 minutes to Sands Bethlehem casino or to Yonkers.”

In July, Paul Fireman, the former chairman of Reebok International, proposed a $4.6 billion casino project with a 95-story skyscraper at the southern end of Jersey City, next to his 160-acre Liberty National Golf Course, a relatively remote location with spectacular views of Lower Manhattan.
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Jersey City’s mayor, Steven M. Fulop, a supporter of the project, claimed that “it would be the highest-grossing casino in the United States.”

But proponents will have to overcome the misgivings of officials from South Jersey, where thousands of Atlantic City casino workers make their homes.

In a separate proposal, Jeff Gural, a New York real estate investor, wants to install slot machines at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, where he runs the racetrack and recently built an $88 million grandstand.

Mr. Gural is not looking to build a destination resort that would compete with Atlantic City. Under his proposal, he would operate slot machines at a 55 percent tax rate, with nearly half of the revenue dedicated to rebuilding Atlantic City as a resort.

“We have to come up with a plan that helps Atlantic City, and doesn’t put it out of business,” Mr. Gural said. “That’s in no one’s best interest.”

But the Meadowlands Chamber has much more ambitious plans.

Its proposal is to build a hotel and a convention hall, a large casino and a youth sports center in a building next to the vacant Izod arena. There would be a second, 1,000-room hotel next to the Meadowlands racetrack.

The proposal calls for up to 20,000 additional parking spaces in garages scattered across the 750-acre sports complex. In addition, a 1.5-mile monorail or “people mover” would transport visitors around the complex.

“We don’t only want a casino,” Mr. Kirkos said. “I want a convention center, a couple of quality hotels. I want it all.”

Raymond J. Lesniak, a state senator from North Jersey, is not so sure. He said he, too, welcomed a discussion about expanding casinos beyond Atlantic City. Any proposal, he said, had to help Atlantic City transform itself. Mr. Lesniak dismissed the proposal for a Las Vegas-style casino in the Meadowlands, in favor of one overlooking the New York skyline.

“The proposal for a megacasino at the Jersey City site” and a slot parlor in the Meadowlands, Mr. Lesniak said, “could produce in excess of a billion dollars over 10 years to be reinvested in Atlantic City.”

[MÇA]

It's official.


Atlantic City's Revel Casino to Close in September
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSAUG. 12, 2014, 4:21 P.M. E.D.T.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — When it opened just over two years ago, many people hoped Revel would save Atlantic City's struggling casino industry, which has been bleeding money and jobs for years.

But now the $2.4 billion resort that was widely seen as the last, best chance for Atlantic City's gambling market is shutting down, unable to find a buyer for even pennies on the dollar.

In addition to putting 3,100 people out of jobs and hurting state and local budgets, Revel's demise shows just how cutthroat the East Coast casino market has become, and how difficult it is for even the newest and nicest gambling halls to survive in an oversaturated market.

Revel Entertainment said the casino and its 1,399 hotel rooms will close on Sept. 10, never having turned a profit.

Revel said it still hopes to find a buyer through the bankruptcy process. But it acknowledged that if that happened, it would be after the facility had already shut down.

[Rabelais]

Even Donald Trump doesn't want his name on a casino any more.

[stephen]

New article about how much casinos suck by David Frum.

A Good Way to Wreck a Local Economy: Build Casinos
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/08/a-good-way-to-wreck-a-local-economy-build-casinos/375691/

[Bobblehead]

Indeed. Not sure our current governor has the maturity either.

[AndyDufresne]

Fulop is genetically hard-wired to run in 2017. When making that decision, he has to assume he'd have to wait until 2025 if he doesn't run in'17 (worst case for Fulop would be Sweeney/other Dem wins and Fulop can't run against a Dem in '21.) no way he risks having to wait 11 years from now to get to the thing he started planning for even before he was sworn in as mayor. McGreevey, DeCotiis,
Lesniak, the desperate need for any media attention, Clinton fundraiser, etc. - those aren't things you do for something 11 years from now.

The funniest part about all of the governor talk is the chatter started even before Christie had been re-elected to the current term. The '17 election is still more than three years away! Plenty of time to fix the statewide profile. Whether or not he'll have gained the maturity over the next three years for that job is a whole other matter.

[Bobblehead]

CasiNO.

[Binky]

  I think the power is in giving a casino not in having a casino.

[Bobblehead]

That makes no sense.

[jehu]

Fulop is still young, waiting a few years to run at Governor will not hurt. The Casino will give him access to future 'contributors' when he sets his eyes on a national office.

Fulop still doesn't have the strong in state connections to make a run at Governor.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/07/nj_building_trades_council_urges_sweeney_to_run_for_governor.html

[Binky]

But why would he want a casino at all, and how would that be preferable to the governorship?

[jehu]

Fulop gets the Casino, he doesn't run for Governor against Sweeney (for the Primary).

[Binky]

That makes no sense to me.

[jehu]

Got the inside scoop on the Casino deal. Sweeney is giving this to Fulop and Northern Jersey to KEEP them (Fulop and another person I can't remember) out of running for Governor.

[MÇA]

Interesting NYT story yesterday about the spate of casino closings in Atlantic City, pointing the finger at oversupply and competition from neighboring states. Interesting fact: "Today, gambling accounts for only 30 percent to 35 percent of revenues at Las Vegas casinos. Entertainment, restaurants and retail make up the difference. In Atlantic City, gambling still generates 71.5 percent of the revenues, down from almost 78 percent two years ago. Simply put, there are just too many slot machines, blackjack tables and poker rooms."

[Miss Eliza Bennet]

Oh, no, no, no, dear Mayor F. Are my dearest Carlo and I to have our very ears assaulted by the din of a racetrack as we stroll in that beautiful park? Not to mention a casino? Where is the honest councilman who professed to earnestly forego the usual practices of behind the scenes wheeling and dealing? Eight months of negotiations all for campaign contributions?

Step out of that bubble you've let yourself be encased in, Dear Mayor F. I am sorely tried by who you now appear to be - a man who values enriching his own ideas of fun above the good of the citizenry, a man who believes a casino and ferris wheel -worthy of the "best mid-sized city in America" but yet does not feel the same about an art film house like the Loew's?

[devb]

Another one bites the dust.

http://www.nj.com/south/index.ssf/2014/07/trump_plaza_in_atlantic_city_could_close_in_september_report_states.html

[Rabelais]

You people really need to make your displeasure known to your mayor.  These very intelligent discussions will be for naught if you're all just agreeing with each other.

I have written him and encouraged others to do the same.

[jehu]

I plan on writing him a letter.

You people really need to make your displeasure known to your mayor.  These very intelligent discussions will be for naught if you're all just agreeing with each other.

[Darna]

You people really need to make your displeasure known to your mayor.  These very intelligent discussions will be for naught if you're all just agreeing with each other.

[MÇA]

OK, forget the Ferris wheel. How about one of these?

[Frank M]

Fulop on WCBS 880 AM this afternoon, being a Debbie Dickface.

https://soundcloud.com/steve-scott/skyscraper-casino-and-f1

World-class arrogance for a world-class pipedream—who is he channeling, Donald Trump? 

[Bobblehead]

Can't let this go by.

[nikki]

I concede that hybrid or electric monster trucks and possibly funny cars would be acceptable.

I would be there every Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

[devb]

I concede that hybrid or electric monster trucks and possibly funny cars would be acceptable.