ALBANY — A major New York union and the operator of a Queens casino are anteing up against a New Jersey referendum to allow gambling outside of Atlantic City and closer to New York City.
The New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, which represents workers in New York and New Jersey, on Monday will begin running a television and digital ad campaign against the referendum.
The union opposes the referendum because the legislation that allowed for it does not include a labor peace provision that would stop casino owners from blocking union organizing efforts. New York’s casino law included such a provision.
“Our union has built a strong standard for gaming workers in the tri-state area, and until we have concrete assurances that those standards will be met, we will oppose any efforts to expand gaming into North Jersey,” said union President Peter Ward.
“The close to 5,000 hospitality workers we represent in North Jersey, cannot support their families on empty promises, and we will not support any measure that fails to guarantee these critical standards are met.”
The ad will have an initial six-figure television buy that will likely balloon to seven-figures before the November referendum, sources say.
It begins with unflattering pictures of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in a baseball uniform playing ball.
“Trenton political bosses are up to their old games,” the ad says while stating how a law would allow for casinos in northern New Jersey “without giving communities the ability to say ‘no.'”
The ad says the casino revenue would be able to be used however the politicians want, “just like they did when they bailed out Donald Trump’s failing casinos.”
“Another bait and switch from the insiders of Trenton. We’ve seen what they’ve done in Atlantic City: Crime bankruptcy. foreclosure. That’s the Trenton game and Trenton can’t be trusted.”
It ends with a picture of Trump and Christie together.
The union is not the only New York interest getting involved in the fight. Genting, which runs the successful virtual casino at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, has helped bankroll a group made up heavily of Atlantic City interests that are opposing the measure. The group, Trenton’s Bad Bet, unveiled its own ad last week.
Genting’s Queens casino stands to lose business if gambling is expanded across the border into northern New Jersey.
Genting opposes the expansion into North Jersey “because we believe it would hurt New Jersey families and businesses as well as put thousands of jobs at risk in New York and elsewhere,” said company spokesman Michael Levoff.
“We undertake many different efforts on a host of issues that impact our industry as a whole, and our partnerships with state governments who rely on the jobs we create and the revenue we generate,” Levoff added.
On the other side of the issue, Jeff Gural, a New York City developer who owns an upstate racetrack, is helping fund an ad campaign in favor of the gambling expansion. Gural also owns a racetrack in the Meadowlands and stands to benefit if the referendum is approved.
Gural says the tax money New Jersey used to collect from casinos in Atlantic City has dropped by more than half, to $200 million. The ads he is helping fund argue expanding gambling by allowing two casinos outside of Atlantic City would mean more money for state programs for seniors and others.
He said it’s not surprising the opposition to the referendum is being led by interests in New York, Pennsylvania and elsewhere who stand to be hurt by the competition.
He was surprised, however, that the Hotel and Motel Trades Council was among those fighting against the expansion, saying it makes no sense since the union represents workers in New Jersey who will be helped by a casino expansion.
“We would certainly hire more people in New Jersey than they would lose jobs,” Gural said. “If we get our message out, we should win easily,” he said.
Two recent polls have shown Garden State residents oppose the referendum while a third found voters evenly divided.
