Moody’s: Casino tourism might take a hit with online gambling legalization

Moody’s Investors Service has said that while online gambling legalization is going to help the New Jersey State in stabilizing the property tax base in Atlantic City, there might be some negative results as well.

They fear that the introduction of online gambling may lead to a reduction in the tourist count visiting the Atlantic City casinos, as people, now, will prefer betting from their home.

Moody has given a Baa1 rating to the general obligation debt of Atlantic City. They gave it a negative outlook. A number of bad news coming one day after the other are going to further add the downward pressure on the city’s credit rating. However, at this moment, the rating is going to stay unchanged.

Nevertheless, it is believed that online gambling legalization is going to result in the generation of a lot of revenue. This is going to help the taxable property values of Atlantic City to be stabilized, as there will be consideration given to the financial performance, while calculating market and assessment value of each of the casino.

Casinos, which will have a better taxable value, might be in a position to reduce the tax bills via appeals.

Still, the firm believes that once there would be scope of gambling from home through online casinos, it might lead to a further drop in the overall gambling tourism.

Ever since 2005, casino industry in Atlantic City has seen a major downturn. It has been due to the introduction of different gambling venues in the neighboring state. This downturn has been bad for the city, as it has bought terrible financial crisis and unemployment.

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