CEASE members would prefer, at this point, if New Jersey politicians would cease their backroom jibber-jabber and pass legislation that will, once and for all, ban smoking (of all stripes, including vaping) inside casinos.
“We feel like it’s going to get done, it’s only a matter of time, but politics is holding it back and that’s what we’re trying to work through now,” said Pete Naccarelli, a dealer at Borgata and one of the leaders of CEASE (Casino Employees Against Smoking’s Effects).
“We’re not political experts by any means, so we don’t have any idea about what is going on, but in my opinion, the casinos are worried they’re going to lose money,” he said. “That’s not based in fact, that’s an old-school mentality, and they’re worried about that and letting the politicians know that, and in turn the politicians are worried about losing money.”
Naccarelli probably isn’t wrong; as detailed previously at NJ Online Gambling, a majority of state senators are sponsoring a bill to ban smoking, as is a majority of the state assembly. Gov. Phil Murphy has agreed to sign the bill when/if it reaches his desk.
But as of now: bupkis.
And as for the money angle, well, it depends on who you ask.
A study by the Casino Association of New Jersey suggests casinos would take an 11% revenue haircut and be forced to lay off 2,500 employees should a smoking ban go into effect.
But a different study, by the Las Vegas-based C3 Gaming, countered that not only would casinos not experience a revenue hit, but they would very likely make more money with a smoking ban. “In fact, non-smoking properties appear to be performing better than their counterparts that continue to allow smoking,” the report read.
Perhaps even more telling was this quote from Mark Giannantonio, the chief executive of Resorts and the president of the Casino Association of New Jersey. Speaking to The New York Times last month, he suggested the smoking ban was a when, not an if.
“There is a time for this, at some point,” Giannantonio said. “It’s just not the right time.”
Atlantic City is a last stand of sorts for the whole smoking-while-gaming crowd. At least 20 states have outright bans on the practice, and many casinos located in states where it’s still allowed have imposed their own bans, such as Parx in Pennsylvania.
And, of course, New Jersey has some of the strictest anti-smoking laws in the country. For instance, it’s illegal to smoke on the state’s public beaches, although some towns have small smoking areas far away from the crowds.
“It’s absurd,” said Lamont White, a fellow CEASE co-founder and Borgata dealer. “Someone might be smoking on the beach in Atlantic City, outside, and a police officer can come up to them and tell them they can’t smoke outside. If they want to smoke, they have to go inside a casino. How ridiculous is that?”
As of now, the nine casinos in New Jersey have designated smoking areas, taking up roughly a quarter of the casino floor real estate.
“It’s misleading to say 75 percent of casinos are non-smoking,” Naccarelli said. “The smoking and non-smoking games are within two feet of each other. It’s silly.”
Another point on the non-smokers’ side: Even higher-ups in some cases are rallying to the side of the dealers.
“When I started in 1996, you would never hear a manager say they should ban smoking, even if they believed it,” Naccarelli said. “Now we have pit managers wearing our T-shirts, showing up to the rallies.”
For the time being, however, smoking continues in the casinos.
“We’re not politicians, but we have so many co-sponsors, 72 out of 120 in the legislature co-sponsoring our bill,” White said. “If the people want it, and the politicians want it, why should it be held back by a couple of powerful individuals?”
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