Shutdown threat has casinos ready to fight
PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY
By PETE McALEER Statehouse Bureau,
and Donald Wittkowski
June 30
TRENTON - New Jersey's casino industry may seek a court order today to keep its doors open during a potential government shutdown.
If no progress is made on budget talks, Gov. Jon S. Corzine is expected to sign an executive order sometime after midnight that would begin what one Cabinet member called "an orderly shutdown of government." All state services deemed nonessential would close either immediately or over a period of three to four days.
State gaming inspectors - required to be on casino premises at all times - would be among the nonessential employees. A Corzine administration official said the governor had been advised that the casino inspectors did not meet the definition for an essential service, which involves protecting the "health, safety and welfare" of New Jersey residents.
The casino industry went to court three years ago to seek the right to stay open amid the threat of a government shutdown. At that time, a tax increase on casino revenue was the most contentious proposal in the budget. Casinos argued that gaming inspectors and state regulators should continue to work through a shutdown because the industry pays for their salaries.
A Superior Court judge ruled casinos could stay open, but an appeals court later overturned the decision. The state Supreme Court never heard the case because the state adopted a budget within hours of the deadline.
The casino industry could start the court process all over again today.
"It's an option to us this time as well, but we have not yet decided what we're going to do," said New Jersey Casino Association President Joseph A. Corbo Jr.
Corbo acknowledged the state faces difficult budget issues, but he argued it would be counterproductive to close businesses that generate millions of dollars of state tax revenues.
"We are obviously concerned about being caught in the middle of this process and we would hope no action would be taken to close our casinos," Corbo said. "To do so would obviously be extremely harmful to our businesses and would also significantly impact the thousands of our best customers planning to visit this weekend as well as our 50,000 employees, who would temporarily lose their incomes as a result of a closure."
Corbo estimated the state would lose about $7.3 million in gross gaming revenue tax over the five-day holiday weekend. Beyond that, the daily loss would be about $1.3 million.
The New Jersey Casino Control Commission, which regulates the state's gaming industry, called a special meeting for 5 p.m. today to consider the temporary suspension of the operating certificates for the state's 12 casinos.
"It's only a contingency in case the governor declares a state of emergency if a budget is not passed," Casino Control Commission spokesman Daniel Heneghan said. "If there is a budget agreement from now until 5 p.m. (today), it would obviate the need for the meeting."
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