How much of the billions of dollars in capital spending planned in Atlantic City over the next several years will be put on hold as resort bosses await the outcome of efforts to make the 150-200 acres of  Bader Field real estate yet another casino zone?

The thought was put into words by a veteran gaming executive familiar with the ins and outs, and the highs and lows of gaming-related politics there.

The debate has been pushed this way and that by new city hall scandals and the desire for creating the possibilities that might lead to property tax relief, assuming some casino company decides to put up a billion dollars or so for  rights to cast its view of the future across this land.

Casino industry watchers who shared their opinions on  the  subject say the outcome could be something similar to what Steve Wynn did with the H-tract, only for a lot more money. Wynn, by the way, is one of the executives who was recently in Atlantic City to update himself on the situation.

The veteran executive shared his thinking with me  on the condition he not be identified, seemed to be asking questions for which he is  trying to find his own answers.

A “clean site” (at Bader), he suggested, is going to seem preferable to something pieced together from the bits and pieces of real estate and  dated architecture  in  the current  casino zone at the  Boardwalk. A lot of money has been spent based on the assumption that this zone would not have any competition until the potential for building had been exhausted.

But of course  this rationale  has  nothing to do with the arguments  of people  anxious to see some form of property tax relief.