Atlantic County Shops For Lawyers To Fight PILOT, Mulls Injunction

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Atlantic County is looking for a law firm to challenge a law that shrunk Atlantic City casinos’ tax payments and increased the property tax burden on homeowners and businesses. The county wants a law firm to “challenge the constitutionality of the Casino Property Tax Stabilization Act,” according to the request for proposals published on Thursday. The lawyers could be asked to seek an injunction “against the further implementation of the act.” Sealed bids are due on May 23 and any successful bidder would be awarded a 12-month contract. The law was agreed almost a year ago but did not come into effect until New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs declared Atlantic City in need of “stabilization” in November.

More about: Government, Atlantic City, atlantic county, casinos, dennis levinson, pilot, taxes

Decade-Long NJ Casino Tax Slump Reverses, Thanks To Online Gaming

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Atlantic City casino properties have closed, but the resort city’s biggest industry paid more into state coffers last year as its revenue increased. New Jersey’s tax revenue from the casino industry increased last year, as online gaming helped reverse a 10-year slump in casino taxes. Casinos paid the state $210.4 million in taxes and fees in the last fiscal year (July 2015-June 2016), up slightly from $206 million in the previous 12-month period, according to a Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) report published last month. The tax turnaround is a thin silver lining for New Jersey, which has seen its casino tax revenue eroded by more than two thirds from $500 million in 2006. Signs that Atlantic City’s main industry might be stabilizing after a 10-year freefall will also be scant consolation to the beachside town’s taxpayers, now facing a state takeover of the city’s finances that has already raised homeowners’ taxes after NJ legislators cut casinos a sweetheart property tax deal earlier in the year. Although online gaming is just a fraction of total casino revenue, it helped lead the turnaround for the fiscal year 2016, according to data recorded by the DGE.

More about: Business, caesars interactive entertainment nj, casinos, cienj, division of gaming enforcement, internet gaming, new jersey gaming, online gaming