Enter your zip code to find newspapers nearby and then email them a Letter to the Editor to let them know that you oppose expanding casino gambling to north Jersey! Use the talking points below to personalize your Letter to the Editor.

Trenton has a track record of making promises it fails to keep.

• Our Transportation Trust Fund is nearly bankrupt and has shut down $775 million in State Transportation Department projects and $2.7 billion in New Jersey Transit projects.
• Our legislators have broken promises to cut property taxes – instead sharply increasing them over the last decade in a half.
• Our pension system is fundamentally broken. New Jersey pensions are underfunded by nearly 50%, with a total pension shortfall of $44 billion.
• New Jersey mismanaged traffic during the 2014 Super Bowl, causing 32,000 people to get stuck on crowded trains causing hours-long delays. In addition, Trenton diverted ARC Commuter Rail Tunnel funds in 2010, causing significant congestion for 87,000 New Jersey commuters.
• Superstorm Sandy relief funds have been squandered on a state “marketing campaign.”
• Nearly $1 billion in 911 funds designed to support an emergency call operation in New Jersey has been systematically diverted since 2006 to support our state’s non-eligible operating expenses.
• New Jersey saw a sharp decline in transparency and accountability, dropping from the #1 spot in 2012 to #19 in 2015. The Center for Public Integrity gave the state a “D” grade for lax ethics enforcement and refusal to turn over public records, among other issues.
• New Jersey received a “D-plus” grade from the American Society of Engineers’ (ASCE) report card, meaning that a large portion of its infrastructure have a significant risk of failure. The state has the most contaminated hazardous waste disposal sites in the country, its bridges are outdated and its dams crumbling.

Expanded casino gambling in north Jersey will do more harm than good.

• One study found that 23,000 jobs could be eliminated if casinos are expanded in New Jersey – with struggling Atlantic City bearing the brunt.
• Studies estimate that cannibalizing the already-declining casino gambling market could shutter as many as five of Atlantic City’s seven remaining casinos.

This is a half-baked proposal – with basic details remaining unresolved.

• The exact casino locations haven’t been disclosed, and could very well wind up in our backyards.
• Our legislators have no real clue how much tax revenue the new casinos are likely to bring in – or what rate they’ll be taxed.
  • For example, Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, a sponsor of the amendment, has said the tax rate could be between 40 and 60 percent, while Senate President Steve Sweeney has said it will have to be less than 50 percent. Atlantic City casinos currently pay an effective tax rate of 9.25 percent, one of the lowest rates nationwide.
• Trenton politicians failed to even commission an economic impact report on the project.

The facts are clear, and the referendum to expand Casino Gambling is another bad bet. Trenton politicians should be focused on spending for schools, roads and other badly-needed infrastructure improvements, not falling prey to the whims of special interests. Vote NO on the expansion of casino gambling in New Jersey.