Gov. Chris Christie says he’d be in favor of approving partnerships of the kind soon to be announced between the Florida-based Hard Rock gaming company and the Meadowlands Racetrack for a casino in north Jersey — as long as tax revenues from such ventures would help pay to revitalize ailing Atlantic City.
Speaking on his monthly radio show, Christie said that while no one had presented the proposal to him, he had heard “rumblings” that the state Legislature planned to place the idea on the November ballot for a statewide referendum on expanding gaming to the northern part of the state, and said he’d be in favor of such a move.
“I have absolutely no problem with that question going on the ballot right away,” Christie said on New Jersey 101.5 FM. “The competition’s only going to grow, in New York, in particular. And so if we could plant our flag firmly in the ground, I think it would make the project even more successful.”
In 1974, New Jersey voters shot down an attempt at legalizing casino gambling statewide, but two years later approved a referendum which legalized casinos, but restricted them to Atlantic City.
