Chris Christie, the Governor of New Jersey announced the introduction of new casino regulations aimed at encouraging future development in the state’s most famous resort, Atlantic City.
This came as a welcomed help to two of Atlantic City gambling operators, Caesars Entertainment Corp. and MGM Resorts International, whose CEO's recently met with the Garden State’s top officials.
They stated their commitment to further invest in Atlantic City, despite the harsh economic situation and the overall instability of the East Coast gambling capital.
But, both these resorts emphasized the importance of reforming the current casino regulations and it seemed they had found the common language with Christie. The Governor promised his administration would soon enforce new regulations in order to ease the situation for New Jersey gambling operators.
At this moment, there are no details on the upcoming change of regulations, but we can expect them to reach the media and the public in about a month, month and a half.
Governor Christie also said that the state was prepared to work closely together with the operators in order to improve the present financial situation and to modernize the current regulations.
Six Years Without Any Change
The last reform of New Jersey casino regulations was conducted back in 2011, with the same goal – to encourage new investments and boost the casino industry growth.
Some of the changes back then included indefinite licensing (in practice, this means the operators didn’t have to renew their licenses every five years), but also loosened certain regulations. Unfortunately, it seems these changes didn’t have the desired effect.
Atlantic City is facing serious financial problems in recent years, and due to the large number of opened casinos in the neighbouring states, many of those based in AC had to close their doors.
Between 2014 and 2016, five casinos were closed (Atlantic Club, Showboat, Revel, Trump Plaza and Trump Taj Mahal), and now only five are in operation.
The former Trump Taj Mahal was purchased by the Seminole Tribe, which already announced their ambitious plans to invest $500 million to complete the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, which is scheduled to be opened in 2018.
