http://tags.library.upenn.edu/tag/city_planning+atlantic_city PennTags Feed http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/14019 http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/14019 January 28, 2007<br />Atlantic City Casinos Reap Anti-Blight Funds<br />By SERGE F. KOVALESKI<br />Seven years after New Jersey legalized gambling in 1977, state lawmakers created an agency called the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority to redirect some casino revenue to blighted areas in Atlantic City and across the state.<br />But the agency, contending that the gambling industry's success is a critical component of the state's economic health, has handed about $400 million back to the casinos themselves, a sum that accounts for more than 20 percent of the money it has committed since its inception.<br />That approach began in 1994 and continued as gambling competition from other states intensified, Atlantic City's chief legislative proponent expanded his political power, and the state eliminated the Department of the Public Advocate, which had criticized the agency's move to distribute money to the casinos.<br />