I'm taking a gamble

New Jersey is a joke. Hell, if I was a standup comedian, I could just say the words "New Jersey" and I guarantee there'd be at least a few laughs, it's that much of a laughingstock. But recently, there has been cause for even more laughter at the wonderfully inept New Jersey leadership. The government was in crisis for lack of finances, so what did they do? They shut down the #1 most important industry in the AC region: Gambling. A business that brings over $1.2 million PER DAY to the state, Gambling is more important to New Jersey than most anything else. After all, who the hell would go to Atlantic City if it didn't have casinos? Hell, how many people would avoid Jersey altogether if those casinos were shut down permanentely? Other than Princeton, I can't see any reason why someone would strive to go to that state filled with toxic waste.


So what is the future of Gambling in this country? It looks as though that national prohibition on organized gaming is coming to an end, as we are seeing poker rooms, Indian casinos and riverboat gaming springing up basically everywhere. So as of today, we're seeing all kinds of new millionaires emerge out of Indian reservations thanks to the relaxed laws and convenient locations. Atlantic City has become a major destination thanks to the legalized gaming, and not the coast, but with the increased influence of Indian casinos it is facing a dilemma. The NYC tourists might just choose to go to an upstate casino or one somewhere in Connecticut if AC continues to alienate the customer base.


I'm actually starting to get involved in casino resort development, having just developed a proposal that I sent to Wynn Resorts. This is an industry that will always be profitable because offering gambling is such an easy way to make money, but the two gambling destinations will lose their power and influence if they abandon what made them successful in the first place. Vegas has been adding all kinds of luxury mega-resorts, designed to entice non-gamblers to visit Vegas instead of the Indian casinos. That will be the only way to compete, because the gamblers will only want to go to Vegas for major tournaments and events when they can just stay within 50 miles to gamble somewhere where they can sleep in their own bed and go to work the next morning.


To me, gambling should never be illegal simply because it's the survival of the fittest in this world. If someone is dumb enough to gamble away their life savings, they didn't deserve to have savings anyway and it's only natural that they'd help out the bottom line of Wynn's Las Vegas Resort and the 1000s of people employed by them. To make gambling illegal, it's just hurting the economy and enabling the private (underground) gaming industry. When Katrina destroyed the casinos on the Mississippi coast, the state lost millions a day in tax revenues...they've yet to recover. Jersey isn't exactly a state that is rolling around in excess capital, so even losing 2 or 3 days of Casino revenue could be devastating long-term.


In about 25 years, AC will probably be a shell of its current state. Las Vegas, on the other hand, will still be a thriving metropolis because they've used the legalized gambling to develop supporting industries and have created a destination resort in addition to a gambling resort. Vegas has golf courses, entertainment galore, and fantastic shopping. They've also attempted to legalize marijuana and prostitution to encourage safe and profitable (for the state) use of those two "products". So while LV is becoming a suburb of LA and its premier weekend destination, AC is quickly losing out to Mohegan Sun and other Indian gaming sites. It's just amazing how a crappy city in the desert isolated by 100s of miles could somehow overtake this coastal resort just a couple hours drive from Manhattan.