According to a poll released yesterday, the majority of residents of the US state of New Jersey are opposed to the expansion of casino gambling beyond Atlantic City.
The Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind Poll revealed that 56 per cent of voters are against casinos anywhere else but in Atlantic City. Thirty-five per cent said casinos should be added elsewhere in the state.
With Atlantic City in a slump created by the opening of new casinos in states all around New Jersey, the campaign to permit casinos in the Meadowlands sports complex and at the state's four horse racing tracks is gathering pace, particularly among northern New Jersey politicians and the horse racing industry.
But the New Jersey casino industry, backed by southern New Jersey politicians and Governor Chris Christie, says allowing casinos in other places could decimate Atlantic City's multi-billion dollar casino market. Christie says the resort needs at least five years to enable reforms he proposed and were implemented by the legislature to have a chance to succeed.
