| Atlantic City, NJ – Forbes today published a piece that appropriately brought a dose of skepticism to an industry-funded study released by the Casino Association of New Jersey yesterday:
KEY POINT: “‘If it passes, I think employees win, I think the operators win when you end up with more people in those buildings,’ said Senator Vince Polistina (R-Atlantic City)…He thinks the doom and gloom predicted by hospitality industry organizations when smoking was banned in bars and restaurants didn’t materialize and he thinks the same thing will happen with casinos.”
Forbes: If Atlantic City Casinos Ban Smoking, Who Really Loses?
By Will Yakowicz
A new report claims that if New Jersey passes a smoking ban in Atlantic City’s casinos, gambling revenue could decrease nearly 11% and cost up to 2,500 jobs. But a group of thousands of employees at casinos in America’s Playground say the study, commissioned by the Casino Association of New Jersey, is rife with erroneous assumptions and that gaming companies are prioritizing profits over the health of employees.
Angela Martinelli, a 58-year-old dealer in Atlantic City, started working at The Claridge in 1995. She dreaded being assigned to work the high-roller baccarat room, which they referred to as “the dungeon” because it was notoriously filled with cigarette smoke.
“You had to walk close to see people,” says Martinelli, who now works at the Borgata and is typically assigned to the smoking section two out of her five shifts every week. “It was a stinky fog.”
A few years ago, she started having trouble breathing and now she’s dependent on an oxygen concentrator. Her doctor says secondhand smoke is the likely culprit.
Last July, after Atlantic City lifted the temporary smoking ban implemented during the height of the pandemic, three longtime Borgata dealers formed the group Casino Employees Against Smoking’s Effects (CEASE) to advocate for a permanent ban on tobacco use indoors. Lamont White, Pete Naccarelli and Nicole Vitola started organizing on Facebook and now 2,000 casino employees have joined the group trying to close the legal loophole that allows smoking in certain parts of casinos.
“Bottom line: they’re talking money over health,” says Naccarelli, a 44-year-old dealer who’s been working in casinos since he was 18. “People are dying in the casinos, people are getting sick; long-term effects of secondhand smoke are well documented and it’s costing lives. You can’t smoke outdoors on the beach because you’ll hurt the seagulls, but you can smoke in my face.”
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No matter how hard Atlantic City casinos fight, a ban still could be on its way. There are two bills that have been introduced in the New Jersey legislature—one in the Assembly and one in the Senate—that would close the smoking loophole for Atlantic City casinos. Both are headed for a vote early March and Governor Phil Murphy says he will sign a bill closing the loophole if it lands on his desk.
New Jersey Senator Vincent Polistina, a Republican who supports the ban, says it’s only a matter of time until the “antiquated” practice of smoking inside is not allowed in casinos.
“Secondhand smoke is a known carcinogen and we need to prioritize people’s health,” Polistina says. “I don’t think employees should be subjected to having smoke in their face.”
He thinks the doom and gloom predicted by hospitality industry organizations when smoking was banned in bars and restaurants didn’t materialize and he thinks the same thing will happen with casinos.
When asked who will lose if the bill passes, Polistina doesn’t hesitate. “I don’t think anybody loses,” he says. “I think you might have more people in the casinos who would be happy that there’s no more smoke. If it passes, I think employees win, I think the operators win when you end up with more people in those buildings.”
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In October, Bill Miller, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, told PlayNJ that many casino operators have said that smoking bans during Covid did not lead to a decrease in business. He said smoking bans at many properties did not lead to “detrimental effects.”
Casino operators argue that the air filtration systems removes most of the risk associated with smoking indoors. During the pandemic, New Jersey casinos banned indoor smoking at all properties but a month before indoor smoking resumed, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) wrote a letter to the Casino Association of New Jersey urging them to continue to smoking ban. “There is no currently available or reasonably anticipated ventilation or air cleaning system that can adequately control or significantly reduce the health risks of [tobacco smoke] to an acceptable level,” the letter reads.
Lamont White, a cofounder of CEASE and a dealer at the Borgata, says it’s time things change. “I’ve been in the business since 1985 and you could smoke inside a hospital, a plane, a barbershop,” says White. “Today, the whole world has changed, except for the casinos.”
ABOUT AMERICANS FOR NONSMOKERS’ RIGHTS
Americans for Nonsmoker’s Rights (ANR) is a member-supported, non-profit advocacy group that has been working for 45 years, since 1976, to protect everyone’s right to breathe nontoxic air in workplaces and public places, from offices and airplanes to restaurants, bars, and casinos. ANR has continuously shined a light on the tobacco industry’s interference with sound and life-saving public health measures and successfully protected 61% of the population with local or statewide smokefree workplace, restaurant, and bar laws. ANR aims to close gaps in smokefree protections for workers in all workplaces, including bars, music venues, casinos, and hotels. For more information, please visit https://no-smoke.org/ and https://smokefreecasinos.org/. |
