About a month ago, the mayor of Atlantic City, Marty Small, stated that the gambling city deserves to see a cut of sports betting revenues. The city is home to the casinos of New Jersey and a huge increase in funds comes from the area due to sports betting at the casinos as well as online. While the state has a fund that allocates money to the revival of Atlantic City, Small feels that the city should still receive a cut of tax profits. Now, the Atlantic City Council has agreed with the mayor on the matter.
Pushing for Tax Revenues
The mayor and the city council are now pushing to receive a cut of tax revenue funds. They want to see AC earn money from online and retail sports betting. Last week, the council voted on a resolution that will be presented to lawmakers of the state, seeking to change the state tax laws regarding sports betting.
The goal is to see a percentage of the sports betting revenues go directly to the city. All nine members of the council approved the measure. With more support behind the idea, it may be what is needed to get lawmakers on board.
Will It Be Enough?
With the mayor and city council pushing for tax revenues from sports betting, it might not be enough to see the idea come to fruition. Lawmakers do not have to submit the proposal for consideration. The state controlled the city for many years after revenues continued to decline and money was mismanaged.
Some lawmakers feel Atlantic City is still incapable of managing their resources and do not want to see more money misused. Instead, they want to give AC an allowance so that they can have control over how the money is handed out. It seems the legislature is still not 100% on board when it comes to the maturity of Atlantic City officials and if they can be responsible.
Mayor Small is ready to see a change. He visited the Taxpayer’s Association in November and stated that in 14 months, the state has moved ahead of Las Vegas as the number one destination for sports betting. He feels the change is mainly due to Atlantic City and a lot from online gaming. However, AC does not receive a penny of revenues and to him, that is unacceptable.
A portion of sports betting revenues from the state are placed into a Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, where the funds are then allocated by the state to the city. The county and city have no say so in where the money goes from the fund.
For now, it seems there is definitely more support for the tax changes but only time will tell if lawmakers will be on board. It will be interesting to see where the push goes from here.
