Atlantic City Casinos Make Headway Toward Tax Break In Trenton
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The last chance for passage of the bill likely will come on Jan. 10. The process of getting bills through committee before reaching full votes in the Assembly and Senate must start all over again in new session. Governor Phil Murphy signed into law a subsidy to help the state’s three racetracks remain competitive with Pennsylvania and New York tracks. Chris Christie ended a $30 million annual subsidy paid by the Atlantic City casino industry to the tracks in exchange for a promise not to lobby for VLTs at the sites.
The casino tax break bill squeaked over the line by a 21-16 margin with three "not voting" results among the 40 state senators. The bill did not come up for vote in the Assembly until 11:19 p.m. Tuesday. It passed 46-19, mostly along party lines, in Assembly with two abstentions.
The casinos are five years into a 10-year agreement with Atlantic City, Atlantic County and state officials to make an annual payment-in-lieu-of-taxes. The agreement was reached after declining property values at the Boardwalk and Marina Districts had led to some unexpected and drastic declines in tax payments. A bill passed by the Assembly would remove online casino and mobile sports betting revenue from the PILOT equation and keep the casinos’ costs stable next year. Another bill would allow casinos to deduct the cost of promotional gaming credits from tax calculations.
Republican lawmakers from both major parties voted by phone during the Assembly session on Monday. They were protesting an unconstitutional requirement to wear a COVID-19 mask to gain entry to the statehouse. The tactic rankled Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.
