Only 25 percent of residents 65 and older favor casino expansion, with 65 percent saying that they oppose it. Older residents, who may remember the initial wave of casinos opening in Atlantic City in 1978, are the most skeptical about opening casinos elsewhere in the state. “None of the arguments that have been made in favor of expansion have made any dent.” “Views of casino expansion in New Jersey have been crystallized for years,” said Cassino. However, support is a bit higher than it was in 2009, when just 24 percent said that they favored expansion. As far back as 2014, opposition was at 50 percent, with 42 percent opposing. When the FDU Poll asked the same question to New Jersey residents in 2016, 50 percent opposed it, and 37 percent supported it: no different than the numbers this year. There’s also little sign that attitudes on the issue are changing. “But if the state wants those casinos, they’re going to have to change a lot of minds.” “Competition from new casinos opening soon in New York City and the endless search for new sources of revenue mean that there’s a lot of pressure to open new casinos in Jersey,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of Government and Politics at FDU, and the Executive Director of the Poll. Any expansion of casinos would require a vote on a constitutional amendment in the state in 2016, such an amendment failed, 77 to 23. Opposition to casino expansion may be one of the few remaining bipartisan issues in the state: 50 percent of Democrats oppose it, along with 54 percent of Republicans and 53 percent of independents. Just 37 percent of New Jersey residents say that they favor expanding casino gambling outside of Atlantic City, with a bare majority, 51 percent, saying that they oppose such an expansion. According to the latest results from the FDU Poll, while the environment around these issues has changed dramatically, there has been little movement in public opinion on these issues in more than a decade. 973.896.7072/ Oppose Expansion of NJ Casinos, Smoking Bans Rare bipartisan accord on issues surrounding Atlantic Cityįairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, NJ, Novem– There isn’t much that Republicans and Democrats in New Jersey can agree on, but across party lines, New Jersey opposes the expansions of casinos outside of Atlantic City and opposes a ban on smoking in those casinos.

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