Leave NJ to gamble?
New Jerseyans would rather ‘do AC’

While casino competition is fierce and will only get tougher with four new gambling venues planned in New York, there is good news for Atlantic City. Fifty-seven percent of New Jerseyans say they prefer AC over New York casinos, with only 12 percent who say that they’d rather go to the new casinos in New York.

Forty-one percent of New Jersey voters say that either they or someone in their household has been to a casino in the past year, including just shy of half (49 percent) of voters under 35, and only 34 percent of voters 60 and over. Atlantic City remains the destination of choice for New Jerseyans going to a casino: 77 percent say of those who have been to a casino say that they’ve been to one in Atlantic City. “Atlantic City casinos have to be happy that they’re not facing wholesale defection,” said Dan Cassino, a political scientist at Fairleigh Dickinson and an analyst for the poll. “But even the loss of 12 percent of their customers, on top of what they’ve already lost, could be devastating.”

When the first casino in Atlantic City opened in 1978, it was the only legal casino on the Atlantic seaboard. The monopoly brought significant redevelopment and tax revenue to the Absecon Island resort town - the proposed New York casinos would be the latest in a string of competitors that have led to real difficulties.

“Federal Court decisions have made it very difficult for states to keep out Native American run casinos,” said Cassino. “Once those floodgates have opened, state governments figure that they may as well share in the revenues.”

Currently, there are five Native American operated casinos in upstate New York, as well as a number of racetracks with slot machines. Following a referendum last fall, in which 57 percent of New York voters approved of the new casinos, with the goal of increasing school funding and bringing economic development, New York’s plan is to open four additional casinos. The exact sites and owners of the casinos are currently being determined by the New York Gaming Facility Location Board; 22 groups paid $1 million application fees in order to be in the running for the rights to open one of the casinos. These bidders include Caesar’s Entertainment, who wants to open a $750 million casino 50 miles north of Manhattan and the Genting Group, a Malaysian conglomerate that currently runs the slot machines at Ozone Park in Queens, which wants to open what the company calls a “destination resort” in Tuxedo, New York, just 42 miles from Times Square. Currently, the closest casinos with table games are in Pennsylvania, about two hours outside of New York City.

“The proposals for the new casinos come from heavy hitters, and they want to open as near to New York City as the state will let them,” said Cassino. “They’re expecting a return on their investments, and they’re going to be very aggressive about taking the New York customers away from Atlantic City.”

The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of 907 New Jersey adult residents was conducted by telephone with both landline and cell phones from May 27 through June 1 and has a margin of error of +/-3.3 percentage points.

Methodology, questions, and tables on the web at: http://publicmind.fdu.edu

Radio actualities at 201.692.2846 For more information, please call 201.692.7032

Methodology

The most recent survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind was conducted by telephone from May 27 through June 1 using a randomly selected sample of 907 adults who reside in New Jersey. One can be 95 percent confident that the error attributable to sampling has a range of +/- 3.3 percentage points. The margin of error for subgroups is larger and varies by the size of that subgroup. Survey results are also subject to non-sampling error. This kind of error, which cannot be measured, arises from a number of factors including, but not limited to, non-response (eligible individuals refusing to be interviewed), question wording, the order in which questions are asked, and variations among interviewers.

PublicMind interviews are conducted by Opinion America of Cedar Knolls, NJ, with professionally trained interviewers using a CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) system. Random selection is achieved by computerized random-digit dialing. This technique gives every person with a landline phone number (including those with unlisted numbers) an equal chance of being selected.

Landline households are supplemented with a separate, randomly selected sample of cell-phone respondents interviewed in the same time frame. The total combined sample is mathematically weighted to match known demographics of age, race and gender.

Tables

Now I'd like to ask you about casinos... Within a few years, a number of new casinos will open in New York state. How much have you heard or read about this? [June 2014]
	All	Casino in last 12 mos		Gender		Age
	Total	Casino, no AC	AC	Male	Female	18-34	35-59	60+
A lot	13%	20	14	19	8	10	14	14
Some	27%	30	31	27	27	17	32	27
Just a little	25%	15	29	25	25	17	28	26
Nothing at all	35%	36	26	29	40	55	26	31
DK/Ref (vol)	1%	0	0	1	0	1	0	2

Do you think you, or anyone in your household, would be more likely to visit a casino in Atlantic City or in New York? [options rotated]
	All	Casino in last 12 mos		Gender		Age
	Total	Casino, no AC	AC	Male	Female	18-34	35-59	60+
Atlantic City	57%	61	77	54	60	65	57	52
New York	12%	21	12	12	12	19	11	8
Don't Know (vol)	20%	10	9	21	20	7	22	26
Refused (vol)	11%	8	1	13	9	9	10	14

Have you, or anyone in your household, been to a casino in the past 12 months?
	All	Party ID			Gender		Age
	Total	Dem	Ind	Rep	Male	Female	18-34	35-59	60+
Yes	41%	40	32	46	38	44	49	42	34
No	58%	59	67	53	61	55	51	57	65
Don't Know (vol)	0%	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1
Refused (vol)	1%	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0

Exact Question Wording and Order

US1 and US2 withheld for future release

NJ1 and NJ2 released June 3, 2014

NJ3 withheld for future release

NJ4 released June 4, 2014

BG1 through BG5 released June 3, 2014

TAX1 & TAX2 released June 12, 2014

PENS1 & PENS2 released June 4, 2014

AC1 Within a few years, a number of new casinos will open in New York State. How much have you heard or read about this?

1 A lot

2 Some

3 Just a little

4 nothing at all

8 DK/Refused

AC2 Do you think you, or anyone in your household, would be more likely to visit a casino in Atlantic City or in New York [ROTATE]?

1 AC

2 New York

8 DK/Refused

		All respondents N = 907; MoE = +/- 3.7
Gender	Male	49%
	Female	51%
Age	18-34	26%
	35-59	44%
	60+	27%
	Refused	2%
Race	White	63%
	African American	11%
	Hispanic	16%
	Asian	4%
	Other/Refused	6%
Party (with leaners)	Dem	47%
	Independent	16%
	Repub	32%
	DK/Refused	4%

PublicMind Polling, Surveys, Market Analysis

Leave NJ to gamble?New Jerseyans would rather ‘do AC’

Leave NJ to gamble?
New Jerseyans would rather ‘do AC’