Poll: New Jerseyans prefer gambling in Las Vegas, not in Atlantic City

John Curran

Thursday, May 26, 2005 | 9:36 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- It's a city with 12 casinos, miles of beaches and a world-famous boardwalk. And it's within a few hours' drive.

Still, New Jerseyans prefer to do their gambling in Las Vegas, not Atlantic City, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The Stockton-Zogby Poll, which conducted telephone surveys of 1,001 randomly selected adults, found that state residents preferred Nevada casinos by a margin of more than 2-to-1. In addition, it found that about 10 percent of those surveyed would stop going to Atlantic City if Philadelphia, New York City or the Catskills region of New York state had casinos.

Commissioned by the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and conducted by Zogby International between May 17 and 25, the poll consisted of 48 questions about respondents' attitudes toward Atlantic City and casinos.

The poll found Atlantic City to be the state's leading entertainment destination, ahead of the "Jersey shore" and the Meadowlands sports complex, and that more than 9 in 10 adults in New Jersey have been there at least once.

But 57.1 percent of the 525 people who were asked said they prefer Las Vegas for casino gambling, compared with 27.1 percent for Atlantic City. Others preferred casino destinations in Connecticut (5.5 percent) and Niagara Falls, N.Y. (3.9 percent); the rest said "other" or "Indian casinos" or none. Only those who had been to Atlantic City to gamble were asked their preference, not all 1,001 respondents.

Jeffrey Vasser, executive director of the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority, downplayed the finding, saying it was human nature for people to want to venture farther away, given the opportunity.

"I can see why people would say that, especially when so many people have never been there. Where would you rather go, Trenton or Paris? One's in your backyard, and the other is a place you've never been to, a place that's a lot bigger and a lot grander," Vasser said.

Among the other findings:

-Half of the 1,001 people said they would consider visiting Atlantic City, and 36.9 percent of that group would come for casino gambling as opposed to concerts (20.7 percent), beaches (10.6 percent) or restaurants (7.6 percent).

-Among those unlikely to visit, 41 percent said it was because they were against gambling, 10.3 percent said they didn't like the city and 5.5 percent said they would stay away because of crime or safety concerns.

-Among young people, ages 18 to 29, 55.4 percent said they were likely to go to Atlantic City for music or other concert entertainment.

-69.2 percent of black people polled said they were likely or somewhat likely to consider visiting Atlantic City, compared with 48.5 percent of whites and 45.4 percent of Hispanics.

The poll, which cost _$35,000 to produce, has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Not all poll results were released Wednesday. Thomas H. Larrabee, deputy CEO of Utica, N.Y.-based Zogby International, said the responses had not been completely analyzed yet.

The company released the preliminary data in order to make it available for a casino industry conference starting Thursday in Atlantic City but plans further analysis breaking down respondents by hometown, religious affiliation, political affiliation and occupations.