STATESIDE
Stateside W
Sharon Harris finds patience is a virtue
hatever happened to Chris Christie’s predecessor? Advocates of former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine should consider this. Since his 2009 loss,
Corzine has led the MF Global financial firm, which just filed for bankruptcy protection after making horrendous international investments. Add in accusations of the mixing of customers’ funds with the firm’s for investments. The court-appointed trustee overseeing MF
Global’s liquidation has discovered accounting gaps of an estimated $1.2 billion in customer funds, twice the earlier projections. Securities regulators and the FBI are investigating the missing money. Corzine has hired a big time white collar crime defense attorney. Before his resignation last month, a public outcry
motivated Corzine to reject a $12 million severance package. What! Are there any performance and honesty standards left? Corzine is hardly dumb, having led Goldman Sachs from 1994 until his ouster in 1999. What are we to conclude?
The court- appointed trustee overseeing MF Global’s
liquidation has discovered
accounting gaps of an estimated $1.2 billion in customer funds
Although Corzine seemed nice enough, he did
little for New Jersey but raise taxes and employ policies that doubled unemployment during his four years. His contributions towards improving gaming were negligible. This year, the news is potentially more positive because 64 percent of New Jersey voters wisely approved developing legislation to legalize sports betting at casinos and racetracks. To pass, federal law must still permit sports betting. Proposed legislation for potential national action
would authorize the New Jersey Casino Control Commission to issue licenses. If Christie signs this by year’s end, the state’s attorney general will push to overturn the 1992 federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). Thanks to New Jersey’s bureaucratic lunacy, the
state missed the federal deadline to legalize sports betting. Congress established a 12-month time frame, from PASPA’s January 1, 1993 enactment date, for those states that operated licensed casino gaming for 10 prior years to legalize sports wagering. The language obviously was directed at New Jersey. However, New Jersey forfeited the opportunity to
carve out an exception for itself. Smart thinkers would have ensured that New Jersey at least had the option by putting everything in place. Currently, PASPA permits sports betting in only four states – Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana. If anything can be done, optimistic projections
10 DECEMBER 2011
would be to start at the beginning of the 2012 NFL season. The National Football League (NFL) objects to betting on its games, but the reality is that hundreds of millions are wagered during the season. Any legalized New Jersey sports betting will ban gambling on intrastate college games and any games involving a New Jersey college. New Jersey is desperately seeking innovative
alternatives to traditional gaming, as are Connecticut’s Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun Indian casinos. Both states must reinvent themselves as neighboring New York expands its gaming program. Even neighboring Pennsylvania, with their
statewide casinos’ 250-table game increase and 30 percent revenue jump this year, must step it up. They count millions from New York as customers, but the new competition will challenge their position. After 10 years of delays and licensing corruption,
the new three-level Resorts World racino recently opened at the Aqueduct Racetrack complex in Queens, one of five New York City boroughs. Owner Genting New York, a subsidiary of England and Southeast Asia’s largest gambling company, grossed $14 million in the first 10 days. The casino will pay 44% in taxes to New York State. The numbers are no surprise, considering over eight million people live within the five boroughs. Players can reach the casino by subway, from
midtown Manhattan’s Time Square and elsewhere throughout the region, or drive and park in one of 6,500 parking spots. There are 5,000 video gaming terminals and electronic table games for their gambling pleasure and multiple outlets offer casual and fine dining. Future plans call for a climate- controlled bridge to the nearby subway station and a shuttle to Kennedy International Airport. Gaming is proliferating throughout the
Northeast, from Maryland to Maine, home to 25 percent of America’s population. So, how do established casinos win back customers who have sampled and enjoyed more conveniently located properties near their homes? Is the answer comps and other freebies? Atlantic
City’s 11 casinos think so. In September, refunding an average 40 cents of every gambling dollar won totaled $115 million in promotional allowances and expenses. Resorts spent the most; Trump Taj Mahal the least. Comps include free rooms, drinks, cash gifts, event tickets and promotional gaming credits. What will the other states do in 2012? We’ll have to
wait and see.
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