Atlantic City Loses More Money on Borgata Tax Case

As if New Jersey’s local government didn’t have enough on their plate with the launch of online casinos in the US state due to take place later in November, now Atlantic City have been ordered to pay back property tax from the Borgata casino.

The top grossing casino in the state has seen its valuation reduced by a whopping 61%, meaning that Biyd Gaming Corp. and MGM Resorts International have overpaid on their taxes to the city. As such, the two companies are owed $48.8 million for the 2009 and 2010 tax years, a piece of gambling news the authorities won’t be welcoming.

Of course, Atlantic City still has hope that the online casinos allowed by the changes in American gambling laws, 2 years ago now, will bring in extra revenue. With the first online casinos due to go live on November 26th – after a 5 day trial period – the public will get their first taste of a fully legal, and fully integrated online casino.

Interestingly, the Borgata are one of the 5 casinos to have been awarded a license by the state so far, along with the two Trump casinos, the Golden Nugget casino, and the Tropicana casino.

Whether or not online casino revenues will be enough to make up a massive shortfall in Atlantic City’s accounts remains to be seen, but they may not even be soon enough to help the city pay back the money owed to the two gambling companies in relation to the Borgata.

Even worse is that the final decisions over the 2010 and 2011 tax assessments have yet to be made, so Atlantic City could be facing even harder times in the near future. At least their gamblers will have access to a full suite of online and mobile casino games, however.