With NYC casinos approved, NJ Meadowlands casino plan still on track
Daniel Munoz, NorthJersey.com
Wed, December 17, 2025 at 4:28 AM EST
6 min read
With New York gaming officials approving three casinos in New York City, New Jersey public officials and business executives have set their sights on a casino in North Jersey to keep gambling dollars in the Garden State — though any major push would come after the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup matches at MetLife Stadium next July.
And one key lawmaker in the push for a casino at the Meadowlands Racetrack and another in Central Jersey says the effort might get grouped in with the push for a proposed $2 billion convention center near American Dream.
The New York Gaming Commission gave the final approval for two casinos in Queens and another in the Bronx on Dec. 15. Three casinos had previously been floated for Manhattan, but all three had been shot down.
“Even though they have now approved the recommendations for two locations in Queens and one in the Bronx, those pose the least amount of competition to gaming in New Jersey,” state Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood Ridge, said in a statement. Sarlo floated the idea earlier this year of asking New Jersey voters to OK casinos in North and Central Jersey.
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“After we leave the world stage when the FIFA World Cup exits New Jersey, our next focus should be constructing a world class convention center and casino at the Meadowlands and gaming at the Monmouth Racetrack,” Sarlo continued.
New Jersey gaming executives have feared that a Manhattan casino could siphon away gambling dollars that would otherwise go to Atlantic City, particularly from patrons in North and Central Jersey.
In response, a proposed constitutional amendment would ask voters whether they’d want casinos outside of Atlantic City — one at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford and another at the Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport near the Jersey Shore.
How does a constitutional amendment work in NJ?
If approved, the amendment would authorize the state Legislature to draw up a bill enabling those two casinos. All nine brick-and-mortar New Jersey casinos are currently clustered in Atlantic City.
But such a prospect for two new casinos outside Atlantic City remains uncertain. Representatives for the Assembly Democrats declined to comment.
That office is led by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, who controls which pieces of legislation get to be voted on in the state Assembly. A representative for incoming Gov. Mikie Sherrill also could not be reached for comment on Dec. 16.
Dennis Drazin, the chief executive officer of Darby Development, which operates Monmouth Park, said he’d like the question to appear before voters next November, which means it would need to pass the state Legislature in June.
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For a constitutional amendment to appear on the ballot, it has to pass one time by a supermajority in both the state Senate and Assembly, or a simple majority twice by both chambers.
A casino at the Meadowlands would need to partner with another casino operator and could carry a price tag as high as $2 billion, said Jeff Gural, who has owned the Meadowlands Racetrack since 2011.
Morris Bailey, who is developing 298 rental units and a 200-room hotel adjacent to Monmouth Park, would likely be the developer behind the casino in Oceanport, said Drazin, who added that it’s not certain which casino operator would be chosen as a partner for a potential casino. Caesars operates the sportsbook at Monmouth Park.
New NJ casinos would need to be high-end centers
Experts and analysts in the gambling industry said that with brick-and-mortar casinos posting disappointing revenue compared to online and mobile app gambling, the two new potential casinos would need to provide many new amenities and luxury offerings to stay afloat.
The high-end offerings for the two potential casinos could range from shows to food and dining, niche sports betting offerings like on “slapfight” matches, indoor and outdoor pools, entertainment shows and hotels, said Bill Pascrell III, a lobbyist for the gambling industry.
“You have to not just be a gambling hall. You have to be a destination,” Drazin has previously said.
Why did a casino referendum fail the first time?
Gural previously told NorthJersey.com that he’d want to go ahead with a referendum after the new governor of New Jersey was elected and New York officials decided on where to put new casinos in New York City, milestones that have now been met.
When reached by phone, Gural said that the plan for a 2026 referendum was still a go.
“We wouldn’t put anything on the ballot unless we’re sure it would pass,” he said.
Voters rejected a 2016 question allowing for a North Jersey casino. But two years later the state legalized sports betting, which has been a boom for online and physical casinos.
Gural was the main driving force behind the 2016 referendum on a North Jersey casino, which failed by a 4-1 ratio.
“It was designed to fail,” Gural said of the referendum in a 2024 interview, 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.
Sarlo characterized New Jersey’s in-person gaming industry centered solely in Atlantic City — in addition to online and phone app gambling and sports betting — as “doing well and we want that to continue.”
“It’s important to our economy and for the jobs it maintains for our workforce,” Sarlo said.
Proposed convention center could cost $2 billion
As for the convention center, the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce put forward a serious proposal in 2023, though the prospect had been discussed for years beforehand.
Advocates have backed such a proposal for years, arguing that it would offer a cheaper alternative to nearby New York City and the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.
“If we continue to sit back and not do some envisioning and not think about the future, the states around us will continue to eat our lunch,” said Jim Kirkos, president of the Meadowlands Chamber.
The Meadowlands building would attract conferences, trade shows, conventions, large banquets, corporate meetings and sports competitions, according to the Chamber. A feasibility study from 2023 estimated the center would host as many as 232 events annually.
Plans called for a 460,000-square-foot convention center at the site of the arena formerly known as the Izod Center adjacent to MetLife Stadium, though the site has seen new life as a film studio.
The new convention center would cost $1.6 billion, while demolition of the arena would cost $40 million, according to the Meadowlands Chamber report.
The proposal also envisions a 1,000-room "headquarters hotel" and two other privately developed hotels that could cost a combined $1 billion, said Rob Hunden, CEO of Chicago-based Hunden Strategic Partners, the real estate advisory firm that prepared the study.
Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.
Email: munozd@northjersey.com; Twitter:@danielmunoz100; Facebook and Instagram
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ Meadowlands casino plan still on track after NYC casinos approved
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