Atlantic City Leaders Brief Detroit Officials on Casino Experience

Tuesday, Nov. 26, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Members of Detroit's casino advisory task force spent Monday in Atlantic City, N.J., where they heard from gaming regulators and experts about that city's 17 years' experience with casino gambling.

"You have a window here to set up something that works," Bradford Smith, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, told The Detroit News in a report Tuesday.

"It's easier to set up a strict regulatory system and ease up on it later than it is to toughen up after the casinos have a foothold."

The Detroit committee, headed by Mayor Dennis Archer, also was advised to set aside enough money to pay for roads and other improvements related to casinos. Michigan voters on Nov. 5 approved legislation authorizing up to three casinos in Detroit.

State Racing Commissioner Nelson Westrin, named interim executive director of the Michigan Gaming Board, said the infrastructure improvements - capped at $6 million for each of the three Detroit casinos - isn't enough money.

"We're going to have to revisit that issue," he told The News.

Westrin also said state and city officials must agree on how to spend casino revenues. He noted that bickering among various agencies in New Jersey has hindered investment of a $500-million redevelopment fund in Atlantic City.

"We don't want to be 15 years down the road and not have used redevelopment money that had been allocated for that purpose," Westrin said.

Michigan and Detroit officials also must commit resources to dealing with compulsive gambling and the domestic violence sometimes associated with it, he said.

"There are hidden social costs. It's hard to tell children that hard work pays off when we're all involved in gambling," Westrin said.

Monday's meetings were not open to the press or public.