Atlantic City Casinos Push State to Avoid Shutdowns
In the wake of several publicity black eyes received by the city's casinos, New Jersey legislators have proposed three different bills aimed at avoiding future public-policy embarassments at Atlantic City. The bills are designed to allow the casinos to continue operations if the state government should shut down again, as happened in 2006.
Casinos closed for three days in July of that year, due to a budget impasse between the legislature and Governor Corzine. All non-essential services were shut down during the fiscal crisis, which included Casino Control Commission inspectors. The law requires the inspectors to be on casino floors at all times, so the gambling had to stop until financial order was restored to the state.
Considering the Tropicana fiasco, the recent downturn in state casino revenues, and the negative effects of the 2006 shutdown, casino executives are anxious to be able to tell potential customers they will be open regardless of government budgetary battles, especially since the fiscal year ends right before the fourth of July holiday.
Of the three bills being reviewed, the first would change the status of casino inspectors to essential personnel, allowing them to work through a shutdown. The second would propose an amendment to be placed on the ballot putting the casinos under a special branch of the government which would not shut down under a budget fight. The third, noting that other supervised activities such as liquor, food, and banking, do not require 24-hour maintenance, allows for operation without the continuous presence of inspectors.
Whichever bill is selected, it is clearly important that casinos be able to reassure patrons there will be no sudden stop in operations. As pointed out by Joseph Corbo, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, the industry earns far too much money for the state to not protect it from needless disruption.
