Atlantic City Left Out Of New Jersey Gov. Murphy’s Annual Address

Numerous interest groups in Atlantic City had hoped to hear some sort of encouraging input Tuesday afternoon from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, but received no such mention in his one-hour annual “State of the State” address — the last one before a new governor is elected in November.

The Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce, which applauded Murphy’s signing into law a bill that will make it easier for restaurants and bars to offer outdoor seating — a potentially big boon during the city’s crucial summer months — recently expressed its support for continuation of the decade-long oversight that state officials have had on the city.

That oversight law is scheduled to expire in November.

Another potential topic is the pending arrival of three New York City-area casinos, which are scheduled to be selected by the end of 2025. The Yonkers and Aqueduct horse racing tracks are considered betting favorites for two of the licenses, since they already feature thousands of slot machines apiece in addition to the gambling on the races.

An upgrade of those two “racino” facilities into full-fledged casinos could be accomplished somewhat expeditiously. But if one of several multi-billion-dollar proposals on the West Side of Manhattan overcomes local political opposition, that site eventually could send a large amount of discretionary entertainment spending by New Jerseyans across the Hudson River, at the expense of the New Jersey Treasury.

Murphy also did not renew his previous pledges to Atlantic City casino floor workers to sign into law a bill banning smoking in the casinos. A majority of lawmakers in both the state Senate and the Assembly have publicly backed such a ban, but it has yet to come to a vote on the Statehouse floor.

The ban would improve the health of table dealers. The question is, would it also turn away some gamblers from visiting the city, potentially leading to employee layoffs?

Mayor Small shrugs it off

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small told Casino Reports that he did not expect or need to hear his city mentioned in the speech.

“The governor has been great to Atlantic City, and the one thing most important is about action,” Small said. “That’s why I’m not taking what he said in his speech either way.”

Prior to the speech, Small had told The Press of Atlantic City that one possible avenue would have been Murphy expressing to the legislature his backing of the dedication of at least a small piece of the projected sports betting tax revenue from 2024 of almost $150 million. Such an effort failed in the Trenton statehouse three years ago, and support for the city getting a sliver of hotel and parking taxes has been minimal.

Murphy’s speech had many overarching themes, but none of the state’s 566 municipalities received any sort of in-depth focus from the governor.

Regardless of what proposals Murphy made on Tuesday, he may be limited in his influence because all 80 members of the Democratic Party-controlled Assembly are up for reelection in November. Any internal polling within an Assembly member’s district that shows a bill being unpopular could lead to a lack of support for various Murphy initiatives.