Ladies and gentlemen, all bets are off. The ongoing New Jersey state budget impasse has entered its fifth day. The latest casualty: Atlantic City's casinos.
As of 9:00 AM EDT Wednesday, all of New Jersey's legal casinos closed their doors. The 15,000 employees of the casinos were placed on unpaid furloughs and gamblers were told to go home. Although the hotels would remain open, no bets could be placed.
The estimated loss to the casinos? $16 million per day. The state stands to lose $1.3 million in revenue from the casino shutdown. It is already losing an estimated $2 million per day from shutting down the state lottery.
'It is deplorable that the people of this state are left in such a painful position,' said New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine in his second speech to the full legislature in as many days. 'The people of New Jersey have every right to be angry.'
New Jersey's failure to pass a state budget by last Friday's deadline has resulted in the shutdown of all 'non-essential' government services. Workers at state-run hospitals and other state agencies deemed 'essential' continue to work but are not being paid.
The reason for the shutdown is a dispute between Corzine and the Democrats in the state Legislature as to how to bridge a $4.5 billion budget deficit. The governor wants to raise the state sales tax from six percent to seven percent.
Democrats in the Assembly are opposed to Corzine's proposed tax increase and both sides are playing politics. Meanwhile, in Atlantic City, all bets are off and it’s the state and the people of New Jersey who stand to lose the most from the shutdown.
