Former New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority Chairman Carl Goldberg has said he believes that a gaming expansion at the Meadowlands could become “the highest-grossing casino in the Western Hemisphere” if gambling expansion is allowed in the state.

Goldberg, who was the NJSEA chairman from 2002 to 2011, made the comment on Tuesday, September 30 during an event hosted in the grandstand at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

“The time for casino gaming, especially here at the Meadowlands, is now – not one year from now, not two years from now, but now,” Goldberg was quoted as saying. “We have an opportunity here to build and create the highest-grossing casino in the western Hemisphere.”

Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jim Kirkos has said that if the Meadowlands had the opportunity to land a casino or the proposed one-million-square-foot convention centre, he would opt for the latter.

“If someone told me I could only have one, the casinos or the convention center, I’d want the convention centre,” Kirkos has been quoted as saying.

Kirkos did add that casino gaming at the Meadowlands would be a lucrative aspect of the convention centre proposal, though.

“The casino is a component,” Kirkos said. “The convention center puts in literally thousands, if not millions of people a year through the region and a lot of these people will want the gaming for their entertainment."

(With files from The Bergen Record and the New Jersey Star Ledger)