New Jersey Casinos May Stay Open

After the Legislature failed to pass a budget, New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, shut down the state government, thus forcing the closure of tourist attractions, leaving around 35,000 state workers at home. This fact made the New Jersey officials look for alternative ways to ensure that casinos in Atlantic City remain open during the shutdown, because the closure would create an enormous loss of income.

Thanks to a law passed in 2008, Atlantic City casinos were allowed to remain open for seven days after a government shutdown, because New Jersey already faced a similar situation in the past. In the previous three years five of twelve casinos were shut down, which is why lawmakers and regulators are hoping to find a way to keep the casinos open, due to the fact that they are currently regaining momentum and the closure could be disastrous for them. For the first time in ten years, the casino market in Atlantic City posted its revenue income last year, but they could lose everything very quickly because of the current condition in the state government.

It seems that both sides of the government managed to reconcile their differences before the seven-day period ended, since a new bill, introduced by Senate President Steve Sweeney and Senators Jim Whelan and Jeff Van Drew, will allow casinos to remain open indefinitely. Whelan sponsored the original seven-day law in 2008, and now he is hoping that the new bill will further support casinos in their attempt to remain the driving force of the city’s and the region’s economy.

Since Atlantic City is finally turning around, Whelan is positive that a shutdown in casinos would have plenty of negative consequences for the lives of casino workers, their families, as well as for the economy of the city and the entire region. In 2010, Chris Christie signed an executive order, by which employees at the Casino Control Commission became essential. This made plenty of lawmakers question the necessity of such a bill, because the “essential” employees are not affected by the state shutdown.

According to Whelan and the Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, the S-3421 bill would come as a protection for all hard-working casino employees and the regional economy. More than 50,000 people work in the casino industry and they don’t want to experience the same faith as the workers from state facilities, including parks, historical sites and the Motor Vehicle Commission.

After a long period of hard and challenging times, the city is finally in the early stages of a comeback. It is a well-known fact that Atlantic City is the most important part of the tourism offer in New Jersey, and also a huge part of New Jersey’s economy. The aim of the bill is to secure casinos and regional economy in the event that such a situation occurs again in the future.

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