WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The casino market in the northeastern United States is saturated, yet that’s not stopping some states from approving gambling legislation and companies from building new gambling halls.

That’s the consensus from participants at a major casino conference in Atlantic City.

Eugene Johnson of Spectrum Gaming Group says by the end of this year, there will be 60 casinos in the northeast.

That figure will rise to 65 by 2018, according to his colleague Joe Weinert.

In Kansas, casinos now operate in Dodge City, Mulvane and Kansas City, Kansas.   Three investor groups are interested in developing a southeast Kansas casino and have met the minimum financial and management requirements according to the Kansas Lottery Commission.

Atlantic City has lost half its casino revenue and thousands of jobs to competition from Pennsylvania, which is now under pressure itself from casinos in Ohio and Maryland.

More casinos are planned soon for Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland and New York.

And New Jersey is considering allowing a casino in the Meadowlands, just outside New York City.