A casino in the Meadowlands? The idea, once rejected by voters, is floated again

A casino in North Jersey?

The prospect seems more likely amid the push for a new New York City casino this decade, one of three that could be built in downstate New York.

Jeff Gural, owner of the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, wants to revisit the idea for a casino in the racetrack’s backyard, with a price tag as high as $2 billion.

“I can’t imagine that people in northern New Jersey are going to be happy driving over the George Washington Bridge and paying $18 in tolls and sitting in traffic in order to get to the casino,” he told NorthJersey.com.

Gural was the main driving force behind a 2016 referendum on a North Jersey casino, in which the proposal failed by a 4-1 ratio . He announced his plans in 2015 to partner with Hard Rock International to build a $1 billion casino adjacent to the Meadowlands Racetrack grandstand.

“It was designed to fail,” Gural said of the referendum, because the proposal was written in such a way that the casino could have technically been built anywhere in North Jersey.

“People don’t really want a casino in their neighborhood,” he said.

This time, a referendum measure would make it clear that the casino would be built in the Meadowlands, far from any residential areas. But first there needs to be a nearby New York City casino to drive demand for one in North Jersey, he said.

In 2017, Gural said his plan would be to wait for the new casinos to open in southern New York state.

Related: Casinos at Hudson Yards, Citi Field? Atlantic City casinos see a major threat

Multiple casino proposals for NYC

One current proposal calls for a casino at Hudson Yards in Manhattan, another at Times Square, and one near the United Nations world headquarters on the East River.

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is lobbying state officials for approval to build an $8 billion casino with Hard Rock near Citi Field in Queens . Sands has plans for a sprawling casino resort on Long Island, having already completed a long-term lease purchase of property at the site of the Nassau Coliseum.

Mark Giannantonio, president of Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City and head of the Casino Association of New Jersey, said another New York City casino could be a “threat” to Atlantic City’s nine casinos.

And several casino executives at the East Coast Gaming Congress on Thursday — including Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg and Bally’s Chairman Soohyung Kim — cautioned that New York City casinos could draw away visitors who might otherwise head to Atlantic City. Both Bally’s and Caesars own casinos in Atlantic City.

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. agreed. “We know that there’s a threat looming with New York,” Small said during the gambling conference .

“If it ends up in Manhattan, either Hudson Yards, Times Square or the East Side, it’s going to be fairly devastating, I think, for Atlantic City,” said David Naczycz, executive director of the Fintech and Sports Wagering Innovation Center, based in Jersey City.

But Gural maintained that a Meadowlands casino would keep those gambling dollars in New Jersey rather than risk losing them to New York.

Jim Allen, chief executive officer of Seminole Gaming and chair of Hard Rock International, which owns a hotel casino in Atlantic City, estimated that 20% to 30% of Atlantic City’s traffic comes from North Jersey and the New York City area, said gambling trade publication PlayNJ .

The idea of resurrecting a potential Meadowlands casino plan was first reported by The Associated Press.

Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.

Email: munozd@northjersey.com ; Twitter: @danielmunoz100

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: A casino in the Meadowlands? The idea, once rejected by voters, is floated again