Arduous Rock Worldwide has offered its 50% curiosity within the long-discussed Meadowlands on line casino proposal to racetrack proprietor Jeff Gural, ending a partnership that had promoted the North Jersey undertaking for almost a decade. The transaction comes as state lawmakers once more think about asking voters to approve on line casino playing exterior Atlantic Metropolis.
Gural confirmed that his firm, New Meadowlands Racing, bought Arduous Rock’s share roughly two weeks in the past. He didn’t disclose monetary phrases. The 2 sides first unveiled plans in 2015 for a on line casino on the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, one yr earlier than New Jersey voters rejected a statewide referendum that might have allowed casinos past Atlantic Metropolis by an 80% to twenty% margin.
The problem has now resurfaced in Trenton, the place legislators from Bergen and Monmouth counties are backing one other constitutional referendum that might allow casinos on the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park in Oceanport.
Arduous Rock Refocuses After New York Win
The separation follows Arduous Rock’s current success in New York, the place it secured approval for a brand new on line casino improvement in Queens. Arduous Rock’s Metropolitan Park undertaking, partnered with New York Mets proprietor Steve Cohen, is deliberate as an $8 billion resort close to Citi Discipline.
Arduous Rock additionally operates Arduous Rock Lodge & On line casino Atlantic Metropolis, which opened in 2018 after the previous Trump Taj Mahal underwent a serious redevelopment.
Jim Allen, chairman of Arduous Rock Worldwide, mentioned complicated possession buildings can create difficulties.
“Now we have appeared into the completely different choices,” Allen mentioned. “Everyone knows partnerships; if there’s too many companions in a deal, it may be onerous to navigate.”
Trade observers had additionally questioned whether or not Arduous Rock might realistically pursue one other New Jersey on line casino whereas already working in Atlantic Metropolis and creating a serious property in New York.
Gural mentioned voter help for casinos exterior Atlantic Metropolis could rely on proving that new venues would additionally assist the seaside market moderately than weaken it. He’s contemplating a proposal that might direct a part of Meadowlands on line casino income towards Atlantic Metropolis or its on line casino business.
“I’ve bought to determine a approach to assist Atlantic Metropolis,” Gural mentioned, as reported by the Press of Atlantic Metropolis. “That’s the important thing to getting this referendum. We have to present that it might be helpful to Atlantic Metropolis to have a on line casino within the Meadowlands, and that’s what I’m going to work on.”
He additionally argued the Meadowlands would serve a unique goal than Atlantic Metropolis.
“Atlantic Metropolis is a vacation spot resort,” Gural mentioned. “The Meadowlands received’t be a vacation spot resort; we could not even put a lodge there.”
Gural described a Meadowlands on line casino as a defensive response to on line casino growth in New York Metropolis, the place authorised tasks in Queens and the Bronx are anticipated to accentuate regional competitors.
“New Jersey can permit us to construct a on line casino on the Meadowlands and preserve all of the individuals in North Jersey playing in North Jersey, and permit the individuals in Manhattan and Chinatown to return to New Jersey,” he mentioned. “They’re not going to go to Queens or the Bronx.”
Atlantic Metropolis Braces for New Competitors
Executives in Atlantic Metropolis have warned that New York casinos might considerably cut back gaming income within the resort market. Throughout the East Coast Gaming Congress, Allen estimated Atlantic Metropolis might lose between 25% and 30% of playing income as soon as New York services open.
George Goldhoff, president of Arduous Rock Atlantic Metropolis and the On line casino Affiliation of New Jersey, warned that if North Jersey casinos have been added to the three authorised New York tasks, as many as six of Atlantic Metropolis’s 9 casinos might shut. He mentioned such an end result might erase $600 million to $700 million in market income, describing it as “a tsunami on high of an earthquake.”
Atlantic Metropolis Mayor Marty Small Sr. mentioned the town would compete aggressively whereas additionally opposing efforts to authorize casinos elsewhere in New Jersey.
Arduous Rock’s Atlantic Metropolis property stays one of many metropolis’s stronger performers. In 2025, it posted gross working revenue of $123.8 million, second solely to Borgata.
Allen mentioned the corporate stays dedicated to the market, although he burdened that broader state motion is required.
“I’m optimistic the governor shall be critical about realizing that we are able to not kick the can down the highway,” Allen mentioned. “If that happens, we’d like to proceed to be right here in Atlantic Metropolis. However there’s a number of ‘ifs’ there.”
Requested whether or not Arduous Rock might ever go away the town, Allen replied: “Definitely proper now our dedication is to remain.”
