Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson Wants Atlantic City Casino Tax Scheme Tossed

Posted on: February 18, 2025, 08:15h. 

Last updated on: February 18, 2025, 08:42h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson opposes how Atlantic City casinos are taxed
  • Casinos are assessed through a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, scheme
  • Levinson says county taxpayers are subsidizing casinos

Atlantic County’s longtime Executive Dennis Levinson (R) says the state’s ongoing property tax arrangement for the nine casinos in Atlantic City is financially harming county taxpayers who have been forced to foot the bill for the resorts’ benefit.

Atlantic County Dennis Levinson Atlantic City casinos
Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson says New Jersey’s property tax arrangement for Atlantic City casinos unjustly hurts his county taxpayers. Levinson wants the property tax calculation returned to its pre-2021 arrangement. (Image: Atlantic County)

State lawmakers in Trenton, NJ are working on legislation to extend the casinos’ payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) structure, which is set to expire at the end of 2026. The scheme, signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie (R) in May 2016 and implemented for the 2017 tax year, determines the amount of property taxes owed by the nine casinos based on their collective gross gaming revenue (GGR) generated in the previous year.

The PILOT was crafted in response to five casinos closing between 2014 and 2016, prompting the remaining resorts to file legal challenges contesting their property assessments. The court cases tied up property taxes and created a critical funding stoppage for vital county and city services.

Supporters of the PILOT say it guarantees timely payments from the nine casinos to the state, county, and city. Levinson, however, says a 2021 amendment to how the GGR is calculated has cost his constituents more than $14 million for the years 2022 through 2024.

Atlantic City Casino Tax Amendment

In 2021, New Jersey lawmakers passed a bill that amended the Atlantic City PILOT to remove iGaming and online sports wagering revenue from the GGR calculation. The casinos successfully argued that a considerable portion of that money goes to third-party operators like DraftKings that have little physical presence in Atlantic City and, therefore, shouldn’t be subject to a property tax law.

Atlantic County sued the state on allegations that the change violated its 2018 consent order that allocated a greater share — 13.5% — of the annual PILOT money for Atlantic County. By removing iGaming and online sports betting revenue from the property tax bill computation, Atlantic County has received almost $5 million less property tax money a year from the casinos.

In a letter to state Sen. Vince Polistina (R-Atlantic), who sits on the Senate Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Prevention Committee and is leading the PILOT extension discussions, Levinson says the PILOT shouldn’t be a permanent program.

Your belief in the need for a PILOT in perpetuity to provide ‘certainty’ is astonishing. The only ‘certainty’ the Atlantic County taxpayers have had since the PILOT is knowing they will continue to pay more than their fair share in taxes while the casinos and Atlantic City will pay less,” Levinson wrote.

Levinson, who made his letter to Polistina public, says he has tried to speak with the state senator to no avail.

“Hearing you have no intention of sitting down with me, I must reach out in this manner,” Levinson continued. 

Costly Legal Battle

Along with receiving almost $5 million less than what he believes the county should have received from the Atlantic City casinos in each year from 2022 through 2024, Levinson says the county’s legal battle to recoup what it is rightfully owed under the 2018 Consent Order has cost the county “more than $1.3 million” in legal fees.

“We should all find this appalling — the fact that we have to spend such an exorbitant amount of money to obtain what is rightfully ours,” Levinson said.

In 2022, New Jersey Superior Court Judges Joseph Marczyk and Michael Blee sided with Levinson and Atlantic County, but ongoing appeals have kept the lawsuit, and money, in limbo.

“I strongly urge you to consider the Atlantic County taxpayers’ interests as much as the casino industry in any discussions about a new PILOT,” Levinson continued to Polistina. “There is no reason they alone should bear the burden for any casino PILOT bill when every legislator in the state will admit that casinos benefit taxpayers in all 21 counties, not only those living in Atlantic County.”