reprinted from: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Jersey casinos set to fight comp tax
By Dave
Berns The Atlantic City gambling industry is preparing to fight a proposed state tax on the hotel rooms and meals that casinos give free to gamblers as a marketing tool, The Press of Atlantic City reports. Gov. James McGreevey, outlining his planned $23.7 billion state budget, said he could raise $33 million by having hotel-casinos pay the sales taxes on the freebies they give customers. 'We want to get this trial balloon off the table,' Tim Wilmott, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, told the newspaper. 'We're certainly unified in our position here.' Atlantic City's 12 casinos gave away 1.9 million rooms, or 65.6 percent of their total, during the first nine months last year, according to a Press of Atlantic City analysis of the latest available Casino Control Commission data. The casinos valued those rooms at $155.7 million. The casinos also gave away 13.7 million
meals valued at $171.5 million. |