New Poll Shows New Jersey Voters Want Casinos to Stay in Atlantic City

A new poll revealed that while New Jerseyans enjoy many forms of gambling, they do not want to see casinos spread outside of Atlantic City.

Fairleigh Dickinson University released the findings of the study on Friday. The new data comes amid another push to create more land-based casinos across the state, one of the largest gaming markets in America.

The lack of support also comes months after New York approved three downstate casino licenses, which are expected to result in a massive increase in gambling revenue and state taxes.

New Jersey voters don’t want casino expansion

The new FDU poll showed that public sentiment regarding casinos hasn’t changed all that much over the year, even with the strong nationwide increase in gambling activity, largely spurred by legal sports betting.

Using responses from 805 registered voters, who were contacted via live telephone or text-to-web survey from March 20-28, 2026, researchers concluded that 49 percent of respondents opposed casino expansion outside of Atlantic City. 44 percent were in favor, and seven percent did not know or refused to answer.

Those results are strikingly similar to data that was collected by FDU in Aug. 2014, which showed that 50 percent opposed and 42 percent supported casino expansion.

Age demographics and political affiliation also didn't have a strong impact on the results. 51 percent of Republicans, 49 percent of Democrats, and 47 percent of Independents opposed expansion, while 49 percent of individuals under 30, 44 percent aged 31-44, 44 percent aged 45-64, and 58 percent aged 65 or older did not support adding casinos outside of Atlantic City.

“People made up their minds about casino expansion a long time ago,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at FDU, and the Executive Director of the poll whose name appropriately reflects his area of interest. “Unless something dramatic happens, putting the issue in front of voters is going to lead to the same outcome as it did before.”

New Jersey hasn’t gotten a question regarding casino expansion on the ballot since 2016. 77 percent of votes were cast against the proposal, resulting in all retail gambling activities in New Jersey remaining at Atlantic City casinos.

Atlantic City casinos’ sticky situation

Atlantic City is home to nine retail casinos. Those facilities generated $2.8 billion in gross gaming revenue during 2025 thanks to their live-dealer table games and slot machine options.

While the year-end total was up 2.7 percent year-over-year, it was close to just half of the total produced in 2006, before nearby Philadelphia opened its first casinos.

Additionally, iGaming is quickly becoming a more enticing draw for New Jersey customers. The $2.9 billion in revenue from online casinos not only barely beat out retail facilities, but it also represented a 22 percent YoY improvement. Online operators also closed 2025 by setting a monthly record with $273.2 million in revenue.

With that in mind, retail casino owners are faced with a tricky situation. 

“The only thing that’s changed since last time this was tried is more casinos opening in New York,” said Cassino. “That matters a lot to the folks who want to open casinos, but it doesn’t seem to matter to the voters.”

To make matters worse, Atlantic City casinos are stuck in a  back-and-forth with anti-smoking employees who are hoping to get the privilege revoked inside their facilities. A New Jersey law allows for indoor smoking on up to 25 percent of casinos’ gaming floor, although those areas do not need to be segmented, and, much to the chagrin of critical workers, lead to fears of second-hand smoke inhalation.