{"id":229446,"date":"2022-08-31T08:25:10","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T13:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=229446"},"modified":"2022-09-01T12:52:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T17:52:31","slug":"atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic City Casino Property Tax Bill That Saved Resorts Millions Overturned by State Judge"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Atlantic City casino property tax adjustment that would have saved nine gaming resorts some $55 million this year alone has been overturned by a state judge.<\/p>\n

\"Atlantic
New Jersey Superior Court Judge Michael Blee ruled that the property tax savings afforded to Atlantic City casinos through a 2021 law was wrong. This week the judge overturned the state’s decision to remove iGaming and online sports betting from the casinos’ property tax bill. (Image: Press of Atlantic City<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last year, New Jersey lawmakers and Governor Phil Murphy (D) amended the casinos’ payment-in-lieu-of-tax (PILOT) structure to remove iGaming and online sports betting revenue from the calculation used to determine the resorts’ annual property tax load.<\/p>\n

Formed in response to the 2008 Great Recession and the closure of five casinos from 2014 through 2016, PILOT assesses a collective property tax responsibility for the casinos based on their annual gross gaming revenue.<\/p>\n

\n

The gaming industry convinced the state that several casinos would be at risk of closing without PILOT reductions. They argued that since iGaming and online sportsbook revenue is shared –third-party operators like DraftKings and FanDuel have little physical presence in the city — that revenue shouldn’t be included in their annual property tax bill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This week, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Michael Blee said the PILOT change was carried out in violation of the state Constitution.<\/p>\n

Preferential Tax Treatment Prohibited<\/b><\/h2>\n

Blee reviewed the PILOT amendment after a New Jersey-based nonprofit conservative political group, Liberty and Prosperity 1776, filed suit against the state. They claimed that the state Constitution prohibits preferential tax treatment.<\/p>\n

Blee previously ruled in Atlantic County’s favor<\/a> in its legal plea that the 2021 PILOT change violated a consent order reached with the state. That order guaranteed the county approximately 13.5% of the annual casino property tax.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blee said at the time that the state could reduce the casino property tax by stripping iGaming and internet sportsbook revenue. But he also ruled it must continue to pay Atlantic County the full amount it would have received before the calculation adjustment.<\/p>\n

Now, Blee is throwing out the entire PILOT change.<\/p>\n

\n

There is no evidence to suggest that casinos could not meet their PILOT obligations under the Original Act,”<\/strong> Blee wrote in his order issued on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Instead, the judge concluded that the PILOT change was simply “to aid what was actually a resurging industry.” Outgoing New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D), who a political newcomer defeated during the 2021 election, spurred the PILOT change<\/a>. Sweeney was a longtime advocate of the Atlantic City gaming industry.<\/p>\n

No Public Purpose<\/b><\/h2>\n

The New Jersey Constitution allows special tax treatment in the rare case such a policy serves a “public purpose.” Blee found that the 2021 PILOT adjustment failed to reach that classification.<\/p>\n

\n

This Court finds that the Amendment was enacted to aid the casino industry and not for a public purpose,”<\/strong> Blee summarized.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Casino Association of New Jersey didn’t respond to a request for comment. The lobbying group cited its policy of not commenting on pending litigation. However, Seth Grossman of Liberty and Prosperity 1776 did comment.<\/p>\n

“The bottom line is when you have tough economic times, every business is affected. So, to say you’re going to give one industry a break by making everybody else pay more, that’s not helping the economy. It’s just helping one ‘ailing’ industry,” Grossman opined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Atlantic City casino property tax adjustment that would have saved nine gaming resorts some $55 million this year alone has been overturned by a state judge. Last year, New Jersey lawmakers and Governor Phil Murphy (D) amended the casinos’ payment-in-lieu-of-tax (PILOT) structure to remove iGaming and online sports betting revenue from the calculation used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":229448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81885,60],"tags":[25,26,82582],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAtlantic City Casino Property Tax Bill That Saved Resorts Millions Rejected<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Atlantic City casino property tax adjustment that would have saved the resorts $55 million this year has been overturned by a judge.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Atlantic City Casino Property Tax Bill That Saved Resorts Millions Rejected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Atlantic City casino property tax adjustment that would have saved the resorts $55 million this year has been overturned by a judge.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-31T13:25:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-01T17:52:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/blee.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CasinoorgDevinO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/\",\"name\":\"Atlantic City Casino Property Tax Bill That Saved Resorts Millions Rejected\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/blee.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-31T13:25:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-01T17:52:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\"},\"description\":\"The Atlantic City casino property tax adjustment that would have saved the resorts $55 million this year has been overturned by a judge.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/blee.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/blee.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"New Jersey Superior Court Judge Michael Blee has ruled that the property tax savings afforded to Atlantic City casinos through a 2021 law was wrong. The judge this week overturned the state's decision to remove iGaming and online sports betting from the casinos' property tax bill. (Image: Press of Atlantic City)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Regional News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Atlantic City\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/atlantic-city\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Atlantic City Casino Property Tax Bill That Saved Resorts Millions Overturned by State Judge\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\",\"name\":\"Devin O'Connor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Devin O'Connor\"},\"description\":\"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Atlantic City Casino Property Tax Bill That Saved Resorts Millions Rejected","description":"The Atlantic City casino property tax adjustment that would have saved the resorts $55 million this year has been overturned by a judge.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Atlantic City Casino Property Tax Bill That Saved Resorts Millions Rejected","og_description":"The Atlantic City casino property tax adjustment that would have saved the resorts $55 million this year has been overturned by a judge.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-08-31T13:25:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-09-01T17:52:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/blee.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Devin O'Connor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CasinoorgDevinO","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Devin O'Connor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/","name":"Atlantic City Casino Property Tax Bill That Saved Resorts Millions Rejected","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/blee.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-31T13:25:10+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-01T17:52:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf"},"description":"The Atlantic City casino property tax adjustment that would have saved the resorts $55 million this year has been overturned by a judge.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/blee.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/blee.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"New Jersey Superior Court Judge Michael Blee has ruled that the property tax savings afforded to Atlantic City casinos through a 2021 law was wrong. The judge this week overturned the state's decision to remove iGaming and online sports betting from the casinos' property tax bill. (Image: Press of Atlantic City)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-property-tax-bill-that-saved-millions-overturned\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Regional News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Atlantic City","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/atlantic-city\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Atlantic City Casino Property Tax Bill That Saved Resorts Millions Overturned by State Judge"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf","name":"Devin O'Connor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","caption":"Devin O'Connor"},"description":"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}