Meadowlands Getting Slot Machines? 

It is no surprise that the race tracks in New Jersey want slot machines. They have wanted them for years. However, the state’s casinos have not been willing to give up that exclusive form of gambling and so they have paid them a stipend every year to support them. They said that as long as they paid the tracks to not have slot machines there was no reason for them to bring them in. 

However, the tracks have long contended that the amount of money that the casinos pay them is not nearly as much as they could make by bringing in their own slot machines. They contend that they could bring in much more if they offered their own, and over the years they have found various people to support that notion – but still have been unable to get the state to allow them to offer their own slot machines. 

But now Assemblyman Ralph Caputo thinks that it is time to give them their slot machines. He says that with the economy doing as poorly as it is, they need to allow the tracks to bring in the slot machines so that they can start bringing in additional revenue. He contends that this will not hurt the casinos and can only help the state. The new legislation that he and several others have filed would allow the Meadowlands to bring in video lottery machines that are very similar to slot machines. 

The bill asks for the state’s residents to vote on it, instead of leaving it up to the casinos – who are bound to fight it. They contend that they are already facing such fierce competition from other states that they should not have to contend with it within their state as well. Caputo thinks that they will be an asset to the state instead of a problem and that it is time for them to step up and be a “strong part of New Jersey’s economy.”