Politicians likely to kill N.J. video gambling

Wednesday, June 22, 2005 | 9:31 a.m.

New Jersey Governor Richard Codey's plan to use revenue from video-lottery terminals to balance the state's budget will probably be rejected because of opposition from politicians representing the Atlantic City region.

"This bill is not going to go anywhere," Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Roberts, a Camden Democrat, said in an interview. "Although this holds out the promise of yielding additional revenue, it would do so by threatening the very survival of the investment that's been made in Atlantic City."

Codey, an Essex County Democrat who as acting governor and Senate president is the state's most powerful politician, wants to install the gambling terminals at the Meadowlands racetrack in northern New Jersey. Rejection of the measure would leave Codey without as much as $150 million in revenue he had been counting on to help balance his proposed $27.4 billion budget for fiscal 2006 that must be passed by the end of the month.

The proposal is "one where Acting Governor Codey and South Jersey Democrats really could be at loggerheads," said David Rebovich, who teaches political science at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. "This is one of those insider issues that could hold up the budget."

Atlantic City casinos, which employ 50,000 people and generate 80 percent of the city's tax revenue, have enjoyed a monopoly since New Jersey legalized gambling in 1976.

Codey in March proposed a spending plan balanced by cutting property-tax rebates and government spending and selling assets. After Roberts and other legislators opposed the rebate cuts, Codey said he would restore some of them because state revenue is exceeding projections as the economy grows.