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“I think it’s a pretty fair assumption the North Jersey casino ballot question probably had a chilling effect on investors, and they waited,” said Chris Paladino, who heads the Atlantic City Development Corp., which is building a Stockton University campus and South Jersey Gas headquarters in Atlantic City.

He added that uncertainty over a state takeover could have had a similar effect, but that issue has been resolved, too.

What remains to be seen is how the market reacts to the failed ballot question. Leading up to Tuesday, much of the focus had been on what would happen if it passes. Fitch Ratings in June said as many as four Atlantic City casinos could close if gambling expanded in New Jersey.

“Those thinking seriously about playing Monopoly for real should move forward,” said Robert Ambrose, an instructor of hospitality and gaming at Drexel University. “The city is an investors’ market right now, and those with vision and funding should be looking at the landscape.”

There is already some indication as to what the threat of expanded gambling could mean to reinvestment.

Carl Icahn, owner of the now-shuttered Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, said in March he was holding off on investing $100 million in the property because of the vote. He ended up closing the property Oct. 10 after a labor impasse with Unite Here Local 54.

Rummy Pandit, executive director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University, expects the referendum’s margin of victory — three of four voters rejected it — will discourage the idea from resurfacing soon.

“But the area can’t get complacent,” he said.

The idea is far from dead.

Our Turn NJ, a nonprofit campaign favoring the expansion of casino gaming, said it is still committed to bringing casinos to North Jersey.

New Jersey has to start from the beginning on gaming expansion,” North Jersey casino supporters Paul Fireman and Jeff Gural said in a joint statement. “What the people of this state need to see is a transparent, competitive plan that outlines in full detail how gaming expansion would work.”

The state’s first effort to legalize gambling failed in 1974 before it was passed two years later, giving Atlantic City a New Jersey casino monopoly.

Paladino said he remains optimistic about the city’s future. He said people in Chelsea neighborhood or those coming off the Boardwalk have been checking out the progress of the development site and have been eager to talk about it.

“That neighborhood is seeing some excitement,” he said.

Staff Writer Christian Hetrick contributed to this report.