With New York gaming officials approving three casinos in New York City, New Jersey public officials and business executives have set their sights on a casino in North Jersey to keep gambling dollars in the Garden State — though any big push will come after the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup games at MetLife Stadium next July.
And a key lawmaker in the push for a casino at the Meadowlands Racetrack and another in Central Jersey says the effort could be bundled with the push for a proposed $2 billion convention center near the American Dream.
The New York Gaming Commission gave final approval for two casinos in Queens and another in the Bronx on December 15. Three casinos had previously been floated for Manhattan, but all three had been shot down.
“Even though they have now approved the recommendations for two locations in Queens and one in the Bronx, those would create the least amount of competition for gaming in New Jersey,” Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood Ridge, said in a statement. Sarlo floated the idea earlier this year asking New Jersey voters to OK casinos in North and Central Jersey.
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“After we leave the world stage when the FIFA World Cup leaves New Jersey, our next focus should be building a world-class convention center and casino at the Meadowlands and gaming at Monmouth Racetrack,” continued Sarlo.
New Jersey gaming executives feared that a Manhattan casino could siphon off gambling dollars that would otherwise go to Atlantic City, particularly from patrons in North and Central Jersey.
In response, a proposed constitutional amendment asks voters whether they want casinos outside of Atlantic City – one at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford and another at the Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport near the Jersey Shore.
If approved, the amendment would authorize the state Legislature to craft a bill that would allow those two casinos. All nine of New Jersey’s brick-and-mortar casinos are currently clustered in Atlantic City.
But such a prospect for two new casinos outside Atlantic City remains uncertain. Representatives of the Assembly Democrats declined to comment.
That office is headed by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, who controls which pieces of legislation are voted on in the state Assembly. A representative for the incoming Government Mikie Sherrill also could not be reached for comments on 16 December.
Dennis Drazin, the chief executive officer of Darby Development, which operates Monmouth Park, said he would like to see the question before voters next November, meaning it would need to pass the state Legislature in June.
For a constitutional amendment to appear on the ballot, it must pass once by a supermajority in both the state Senate and the Assembly, or a simple majority twice by both chambers.
A casino at the Meadowlands would need to partner with another casino operator and could carry a price tag as high as $2 billion, said Jeff Gural, who has owned the Meadowlands Racetrack since 2011.
Morris Bailey, which is developing 298 rental units and a 200-room hotel adjacent to Monmouth Park, is likely to be the developer behind the casino in Oceanport, said Drazin, who added that it is not certain which casino operator would be chosen as a partner for a potential casino. Caesars operates the sportsbook at Monmouth Park.
Gambling industry experts and analysts said that with brick-and-mortar casinos posting disappointing revenue compared to online and mobile app gambling, the two potential new casinos would need to provide many new amenities and luxury offerings to stay afloat.
The high-end offerings for the two potential casinos could range from shows to food and dining, niche sports betting offerings such as slapfights, indoor and outdoor pools, entertainment shows and hotels, said Bill Pascrell III, a lobbyist for the gambling industry.
“You want to be not just a gambling hall. You want to be a destination,” said Drazin before.
Gural previously told NorthJersey.com that he wanted to go ahead with a referendum after New Jersey’s new governor was elected and New York officials decided on where to put new casinos in New York City, milestones that have now been reached.
When reached by phone, Gural said the plan for a 2026 referendum was still ongoing.
“We don’t put anything on the ballot unless we are sure it will pass,” he said.
Voters rejected a 2016 question allowing a North Jersey casino. But two years later the state legalized sports betting, which was a boom for online and physical casinos.
Meadowlands Racetrack owner Jeff Gural said the plan for a referendum in 2026 to put a casino on the site was still underway. “We don’t put anything on the ballot unless we are sure it will pass,” he said.
Gural was the driving force behind the 2016 North Jersey casino referendum, which failed by a 4-1 margin.
“It’s designed to fail,” Gural said of the referendum in a 2024 interview, because the proposal was written in such a way that the casino could technically be built anywhere in North Jersey.
“People don’t really want a casino in their neighborhood,” he said.
Sarlo characterized New Jersey’s in-person gaming industry centered only in Atlantic City — in addition to gambling and online app and phone sports betting — as “doing well and we want that to continue.”
“It’s important to our economy and the jobs it maintains for our workforce,” Sarlo said.
As for the convention center, the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce submitted a serious proposal in 2023, although the prospect had been discussed for years before.
Advocates have supported such a proposal for years, arguing it would offer a cheaper alternative to nearby New York City and the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.
“If we continue to sit back and do not think and do not think about the future, the states around us will continue to eat our lunch,” said Jim Kirkos, president of the Meadowlands Chamber.
The Meadowlands building attracts conferences, trade shows, conventions, large banquets, corporate meetings and sports competitions, according to the Chamber. A feasibility study from 2023 estimated that the center will host up to 232 events per year.
Plans called for a 460,000-square-foot convention center at the site of the arena formerly known as the Izod Center adjacent to MetLife Stadium, though the site saw new life as a movie studio.
The new convention center will cost $1.6 billion, while demolishing the arena will cost $40 million, according to the Meadowlands Chamber report.
The proposal also envisions a 1,000-room “headquarters hotel” and two other privately developed hotels that could cost a combined $1 billion, said Rob Hunden, CEO of Chicago-based Hunden Strategic Partners, the real estate consulting firm that prepared the study.
Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.
