Atlantic City Casino Smoking Hearing Reveals Strong Divide Between Industry, Workers

Atlantic City casino smoking is allowed on upwards to 25% of the IX gaming floors in town. But many cassino workers say it’s long past clip to oddment the smoking allowance inward ordering to protect employee health.

Two superposable pieces of legislation, from each one seeking to confining the cassino smoking loophole that was formed inwards 2006 when New island of Jersey passed its Smoke-Free Air Act, feature been lingering in the capital of New Jersey upper-case letter for more than a year.

The legislating — Senate Bill 264 and Assembly Bill 2151 — already hold sufficiency backing past right smart of cosponsors to toss their respective chambers.

But the Democratic-controlled general assembly has mothballed the bills for unknown quantity reasons. However, rumors get circulated that the party’s brass instrument wants to wait until after the 2023 election to consider the measures. All 80 seats in the General Assembly and 40 seats in the tell Senate are on the ballot this November.

After months of inaction, single of the smoking bills eventually gained some thoughtfulness this week.

Divisive Issue

The Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee this week held a sense of hearing on SB264. The commission has possessed the Senate’s Atlantic City gambling casino smoking eyeshade since February 2020.

The commission invited both sides of the gambling casino smoking issue to testify. And it chop-chop became evident that finding vulgar strand mightiness be difficult.

Atlantic City casino workers demanding a smoke-free work say tabulate spunky dealers aren’t able to stay crystallize of harmful secondhand smoke that’s regularly short-winded inward their faces.

I am responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of chips. When a participant 12 inches off blows a cloud of smoke at me, i can’t move, and I’m prohibited from waving the smoke away, a motion that would live considered rude,” Borgata dealer Pete Naccarelli told the committee. Naccarelli is ace of the cofounders of CEASE — Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects.

Other casino workers testified that they trust some of their physical ailments are linked to working inner toxic workplaces. Lamont White, another CEASE leader who is also a dealer at the Borgata, said he’s amount to see that people dying of smoke-related cancers in their 40s and 50s isn’t vulgar remote of his industry.

“We cannot walkway away. Our job is to have it, no matter how many cigarettes or cigars are lit,” White person stated.

The casinos, however, contradict eliminating indoor smoking. Atlantic Ocean City’s leading gambling casino join — Unite Here Local 54 — does, too.

“I would wager everything i have got that ane twelvemonth after a smoking ban, we testament hold a 10%-15% decline inwards play revenue,” said Local 54 President Bob McDevitt. “[No-smoking] would come together one, maybe ii casinos in Atlantic City.”

The Senate citizens committee didn’t deed on SB264. It also provided no timeline as to when the committee mightiness voter turnout on the bill.

Casino Smoke Out

McDevitt and the Casino Association of New Jersey experience regularly cited Pennsylvania’s ongoing smoking tolerance privileged casinos as the primary quill conclude that smoking should keep to be allowed knock down the shore.

But CEASE isn’t provision to only if get rid of casino smoking inwards Atlantic City, as the grassroots hunting expedition is undergoing an expanding upon of its efforts crosswise the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

CEASE today has advocacies running in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Rhode Island.

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