After seemingly being in shock from the stampede to put casinos in northern New Jersey, civic leaders of Atlantic City are starting to put up a fight. The terms of battle vary, with some dead-set against a breaking of the Boardwalk’s monopoly, and others saying the goal is to get as much money for Atlantic City out of outstate casinos as possible. Mayor Don Guardian took a hard-line stance, saying, “A casino in north Jersey is going to cannibalize two or more casinos in Atlantic City, and then will lose out to casinos in New York and Manhattan. We need to do everything in our power to keep gaming only in Atlantic City.”
Guardian found allies in lawmakers both Democratic and Republican, as well as in Tropicana Casino & Resort prexy Anthony Rodio, 
who noted that many companies had been committed in Atlantic City for decades and “It would be unfair to allow new companies who haven’t invested a dime or employed one person in New Jersey over the last 37 years to reap the benefits of a casino just outside of New York City.” (Take that, Hard Rock International!) Besides, Atlantic City’s $780 million tax contribution to the state should not be so quickly forgotten.
Other Atlantic City legislators seemed resigned to defeat. State Sen. James Whelan (D, below) said of the new-casino movement, “This has done 
nothing but gain momentum.” In return for conceding defeat, he wants to see “significant dollars” returning to A.C. and only “limited” expansion. Careful, the horse is leaving the barn on that last point.
Deeming the Boardwalk’s current monopoly of “little continuing benefit,” casino consultant Steve Norton also called for getting as big a slice of the pie as possible from northern casinos. That said, he lauded Guardian’s optimism, adding, “I just hope it’s not too little, too late.” (I’d never agree that Guardian’s boosterism is “too little,” regardless of timing.) “How long would it be before a casino gets put in Suffern [New York]? And if they put a casino in Jersey City,” Guardian indirectly replies, “there’s land on the west side of Manhattan now for a casino there. Any success of a casino in North Jersey would be short-lived.”
Indirectly endorsing Guardian’s viewpoint, New Jersey Casino Control Commission Chairman Matthew Levinson said the obituary notices were premature. He noted improved hotel occupancy and convention bookings. “What you might not know, or can’t see yet, is that Atlantic City is healing and getting better,” he maintains.
* A bizarre piece of legislation sponsored by Sheldon Adelson died a quiet death in the Nevada Legislature. It sought to define online gambling in the Silver State as a poker-only proposition. Funny thing is, that’s the status quo and Adelson’s bill left lawmakers scratching their heads. Perhaps things would be different if there were a legislative appetite to legalize online slots and blackjack, but the political appetite for that doesn’t exist, so the sultan of Las Vegas Sands didn’t get his way for once.
* James Packer‘s Crown Resorts derives half its profits from 
Macao and, although Packer has admitted that the Macanese recession is more severe than he anticipated, Goldman Sachs Asset Management is backing Packer’s bet for the duration. “We tend to be long-term investors and if you look at long-term trends in China what is pretty clear is outbound tourism is at a very early stage of development and you can make a credible case that it will continue to grow. Resorts and casinos in places like Macau will benefit enormously from that trend,” said Goldman’s Dion Hershan.
* An ongoing casino recovery on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast powered the state’s gaming-revenue numbers last month. The 8% growth in coastal revenues pushed Mississippi numbers up 2% overall. Riverboat counties, however, saw no end to a three-year malaise, with revenues slumping 3%. Thank heavens for Beau Rivage and its smaller fellows on the coast.
