Casino executives who have met with Governor Christie say they're more optimistic about Atlantic City.
Jim Murren, the chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts, says he believes strongly in the future of the struggling city.
"We have a lot of ideas for Atlantic City. We're going to be working with our friends at Caesars to find out how we can move Atlantic City along. I will tell you it will not be easy, but we're up for the challenge."
Caesars CEO Mark Frissora says the company is seeing improvement in its Atlantic City properties.
"We feel very good about continuing to invest. It's been great to have a partner like MGM who is looking at property that we can co-develop together and they've come up with some really good plans. We think the future is bright."
No specifics of what the companies are considering have been disclosed.
Christie says he's assured them he'll consider more regulatory relief to encourage additional investment in the city that has seen the exodus of nearly half its casinos.
“We are going to work with them very carefully over the next 30 days or so to try to continue to modernize that regulatory scheme in Atlantic City in order to make it more effective for the state and more efficient for the casinos.”