European Roulettes Meadowlands Casino Gambling Bookmark this portal  |   Make this portal your homepage   Search For:   European Roulettes Spanish Roulette Contact Us Add Your Site Articles Links Consultants Roulette Keno Bingo Online Casino Software   European Roulettes - Meadowlands Casino Gambling Doesn't Appear Likely A New Jersey legislator said on Wednesday that a raise in state revenue estimates will assist in shelving Gov. Richard J .Codey's plan to put casino parlors in north Jersey. A few legislators have doubted all along Codey’s proposal of legally putting establishments that resemble casinos, featuring slot machine-like games, outside Atlantic City. But Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew said Wednesday that recent news of the state's rosier financial picture means there now is an alternative to Codey's plan involving Meadowlands Racetrack. "It's dead, buried and decomposing. This really kills it", said Van Drew, who heads the Assembly's Tourism and Gaming Committee ."Those who would try to advocate it before at least then had the excuses of, "What else are you going to come up with?" That isn't there anymore". Van Drew's committee would be expected to consider any measure enabling Codey's plan to go forward. Last week, Codey announced that state revenues had surged by an estimated $1 billion above previous forecasts. That news came two months after Codey recommended placing up to 2,000 video lottery terminals at Meadowlands Racetrack as part of the $27.4 billion budget he submitted to the Legislature. With an estimated earning potential of $150 million in new revenues, the idea was offered as a solution to help the state dig itself out of a $4 billion deficit. Codey"s office said Wednesday the lottery terminals are still part of his budget proposal and changes to the spending plan rest with the Legislature. Van Drew, D-Cape May, and other south Jersey lawmakers, notably Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Roberts, have been cool to Codey"s idea from the start. Topping their list of concerns was a fear of creating competition for Atlantic City casinos, potentially cutting off millions of dollars to them if northern New Jersey and New York-area gamblers had the option of gambling closer to home. Up to 40% of Atlantic City's customers come from those areas, according to casino industry officials. There also remains the question of whether the video lottery terminals differ enough from slot machines to avoid colliding with a legal protection Atlantic City enjoys. The state Constitution limits gambling to the city. If video lottery terminals are slot machines, then voters would have to approve an amendment to the Constitution allowing their installation at the racetrack in East Rutherford. To players, there's little difference between video lottery terminals and casino slot machines. On the lottery terminals, players are competing against others who are playing those same kind of machines, with the winner determined by an offsite computer hooked into all of them. Slot machine odds and payouts, on the other hand, are determined solely in the machine being played. The state, which fought a similar battle with the casinos in 2003, contends that the terminals are an extension of the New Jersey State Lottery and therefore exempt from the constitutional ban. But Sen. Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon, doubts the machines would pass the legal test and opposes counting on the $150 million they are expected to produce. "I think it would require a constitutional amendment. I don't know of any amendment in the works", he said. << Back   Copyright 2004 © European Roulettes. All rights reserved.