ATLANTIC CITY—Most New Jerseyans oppose expanding casino gambling beyond Atlantic City, and also oppose granting state tax breaks to casino companies, according to a poll released Monday.
The Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind Poll shows 56 percent of voters surveyed are opposed to casinos anywhere else but in Atlantic City. Thirty-five percent say casinos should be added elsewhere in the state.
"The appetite to expand casino gambling options beyond Atlantic City for New Jerseyans is not there yet," said Krista Jenkins, director of PublicMind and a professor of political science at the university.
With Atlantic City mired in a 5½-year slump brought on by the opening of new casinos in states all around it, the drumbeat to allow casinos in the Meadowlands sports complex and at the state's four horse racing tracks is growing louder, particularly among northern New Jersey politicians and the horse racing industry.
But the New Jersey casino industry, backed strongly by southern New Jersey politicians and Gov. Chris Christie, says allowing casinos in other places could decimate Atlantic City's multibillion-dollar casino market. Mr. Christie says the resort needs at least five years to enable reforms he proposed and were implemented by the legislature to have a chance to succeed.
Tony Rodio, president of the Tropicana Casino and Resort and head of the Casino Association of New Jersey, said he is encouraged by the poll numbers.
"It supports the position that the Casino Association and the governor have taken, that we need to focus on Atlantic City and not expand to other parts of the state," Mr. Rodio said. "The majority of people in New Jersey feel that way, and it's the exact right course of action."
But Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, a Democrat from northern New Jersey, is trying to get a Constitutional amendment on the ballot next year that would allow casino gambling in the Meadowlands and other areas.
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