PA and NY are absolutely crushing NJ in casino tax revenue

I remember 1988 in Atlantic City. It was boom times. I was very young and working at an Atlantic City radio station, living in Ocean City, and I spent pretty much every weekend doing something in A.C.

It was the heyday. The rebirth was alive and well and Donald Trump was all over town. It was the summer Tyson fought Spinks and knocked him out in 91 seconds. Casino gambling on the East Coast? We pretty much owned it.

Now there’s competition everywhere. New York and Pennsylvania have taken share away. Many other states have casino gambling now that didn’t when New Jersey legalized it in the 70s.

SEE ALSO: Gov. Murphy now wants to tax fun

A study is out from Casino.com that took a look at which states benefited most when it comes to tax revenue from casinos. This isn’t to say which states' casinos are most profitable, it’s only about how much revenue is going into state coffers. Different states of course tax casinos at different rates, which is part of the story here.

You would think Nevada would be No. 1 but it isn’t. They rank third. That’s due to Nevada’s decision long ago to keep tax rates lower in order to draw the casino industry into constantly reinvesting, thus drawing in more tourists. Nevada pulls $1.2 billion into the state coffers each year.

The No. 1 state is Pennsylvania, raking in $2.32 billion in tax revenue from its casino industry. They set one of the most aggressive tax rates in the nation for casinos and it’s paid off.

Next is New York. Bringing in just over $2 billion a year puts them in second place.

So where does New Jersey land? Not even fourth. That belongs to Ohio with $929 million. Not fifth or sixth either. Those are Maryland and Michigan with tax earnings of $883 million and $821 million respectively.

New Jersey is in seventh place. $691 million is what the state gets per year in tax revenue from its casinos. When it comes to taxes, New Jersey is losing big time to Pennsylvania and New York. Just like Mike Tyson isn’t winning fights anymore either.