Casino proposals suffer setback
Lawmakers miss deadline for voters' say on Meadowlands
By: Daniel Munoz
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... The prospect of a casino in the Meadowlands and another at the Jersey Shore will be out of reach yet again, after state lawmakers failed to meet a constitutionally mandated deadline this summer [2026] to put the question forbearer voters in the November election.
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Proponents have framed these two casinos - one at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford and another at the Monmouth Park racetrack in Oceanport - as a way to keep gambling dollars in New Jersey rather than risk losing them to three casinos opening in New York City's outer boughs.
..... But Atlantic City's state lawmakers have pushed back, saying it would be a death knell of the nine casinos at the ailing seaside town, which already struggle to bring in money.
..... The Legislature failed to make an August 3 [2026] deadline to approve putting the question on the ballot this fall. [2026]
..... "I was disappointed and truthfully shocked that I wasn't able to get it on the ballot," Jeff Gural, owner of the Meadowlands Racetrack, told NorthJersey.com in a recent phone interview.
..... As a result, the earliest time a ballot question could be put before voters now would be the November 2027 election, at the midterm point of Governor Mikie Sherrill. After that, the next chance would be the 2028 presidential election.
..... Representatives for the New Jersey Senate and Assembly Democrats,which hold majorities in their respective chambers did not comment on the potential ballot question when contacted.
..... "They had to get a budget done. it's a tough budget," Dennis Drazin, CEO of Darby Development, which operates Monmouth Park, said when asked why the Legislature was unable to make the deadline to approve a question for voters this November. [2026]
..... To get a ballot question before the voters, it would have to pass one time by a super-majority in both the state Assembly and Senate, or two times by a simple majority.
..... The New Jersey governor's midterm election yields historically low voter turnout, and the demographic that does show up to vote skews older, said Dan Cassino, who heads the polling institute at Fairleigh Dickinson University, which has campuses in Teaneck and Madison.
..... "However, the math doesn't work in this case," he said. Older voters "are oppose to casino expansion," meaning a 2027 vote "is likely to lead to worse results for proponents of expansion, not a better one."
..... But a higher voter turnout wouldn't necessarily help the cause of the casinos proposal.
..... The higher the voter turnout, the closer the sample size resembles the actual population, Casino said, and the population of New Jersey as a whole has been widely opposed to the additional casinos.
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"The other issue is the priorities of the state Legislature," he said. "They're been dragging their feet on this for good reason: It's just not very popular, especially among powerful leaders form South Jersey."