New Jersey Casinos Closings and the Governor

Governor Chris Christie isn’t planning to intervene in the closings of three New Jersey casinos over the coming weeks but says he’s committed to finding a way to bolster the region’s economic health.

Casino workers facing jobs losses gathered outside the Ocean City Music Pier and chanted “save our jobs” and “five-year promise” as the governor arrived for a town hall meeting Thursday. Christie, in 2010, unveiled his first-term recovery plan for New Jersey casinos and said the tourism district needed five years to reverse its fortunes.

Christie told the audience that a Sept. 8 summit he has scheduled for the region’s stakeholders could find a way to stem further job losses but conceded it’s probably too late to stop the round of closings that begins with Showboat August 31st. Christie said he can’t order Showboat to stay open and he didn’t mention offering any financial incentives, adding that he’s not “the CEO of Showboat.”

“I don’t want to run Showboat,” he said. “I cannot and will not order any private enterprise that they have to stay open.” Revel Casino and Trump Plaza are two of the New Jersey casinos slated to close in September. Revel officials announced that facility’s shutdown this week.

Atlantic City is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located in South Jersey on Absecon Island, the city is prominently known for its casinos, nightlife, boardwalk, and Atlantic Ocean beaches and coastline.

Atlantic City inspired the U.S. version of the board game Monopoly, which uses various Atlantic City street names and destinations in the game. Voters decided to legalized New Jersey casinos in Atlantic City in 1976, and the first casino opened two years later.