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Fight Over New Jersey Expanded Gambling Begins

"Powerful Republican Sen. William Gormley of Atlantic County - home to more than a dozen casinos - offered an impassioned preview of his position on slots Monday.

"`It's not going to happen. It will never happen,' Gormley vowed after a Senate Economic Growth Committee hearing - one that had been scheduled to consider whether to release such a bill.

"Sen. Joseph Suliga, D-Union, is co-sponsoring legislation that would allow slots at the Bergen County track for the stated purpose of allowing the beleaguered horse racing industry to survive. A portion of the slot revenues - which could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars annually - would go toward raising race purses to keep up with neighboring states.

"The expected arrival of slot machines at Pennsylvania and Maryland horse tracks within the next two years, the existence of video lottery terminals in Delaware, and the addition of VLTs in New York next year have Suliga convinced there is an urgent need to bring slots and VLTs to New Jersey.

"…Gormley is not interested about the details in the amended bill.

"`The solution is not, nor will it ever be, slot machines,' he said. `You don't unsettle an ongoing industry with 50,000 jobs [the casino business] on the premise of an ill-defined problem that hasn't even been defined by the people who allegedly are trying to solve it.'…"

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