A recently released report has revealed that the smoking ban in Atlantic City could cost 2,500 casino workers their jobs. Aside from that, the ban could also cause casino revenue to drop significantly- by as much as 11%. Although the casino industry has done its best to try and recover from the pandemic, the truth is that many casinos still have a long way to go.
The report was compiled by an independent betting research company known as Spectrum Gaming Group, which compiled the report to support casinos’ enduring argument that abolishing smoking would put a dent in the gaming business, deprive New Jersey of much-needed tax revenue, as well as put hundreds if not thousands of staff out of work.
But casino workers have condemned the report, stating that the report prioritizes casino profits over the health of its staff member, many of whom have developed diseases as a result of the second-hand smoke produced. This report was commissioned by the Casino Association of New Jersey, which has remained quiet in the last few months regarding the issue.
The report determined that smokers accounted for 21% of the gamblers in AC and were therefore worth more than non-smokers. According to the Association, smokers not only spend more but also lose more money than non-smokers, which makes them some of the best customers for casinos.
According to the president of the casino association Joe Lupo, Atlantic City’s gambling market has some serious issues that it has to deal with. As such, enacting a ban on smoking would make it much harder to deal with them. Lupo stated that because of the pandemic, casino employment, as well as visitation to the city, were at an all-time low.
And even though things have been improving steadily, the gambling revenue generated from in-person visits is yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. Enacting a smoking ban at this time could therefore devastate and stunt the recovery efforts that have been made so far.
Smoking in restaurants and bars has been a thing of the past in many states for many years. However, casinos in New Jerseys have always fought smoking on casino floors. In 2007, it appeared as though the City of Council of Atlantic City would pass an ordinance outlawing smoking on casino floors completely. However, the City Council of AC opted for a decree that only banned smoking on 75% of the floor.
The 75% was a small victory for the casino industry. However, it now appears that smoking on casino floors might be banned entirely, which is bad news for casinos and smokers all around. If you ask around, you will quickly discover that smoking gamblers account for more than half of brick-and-mortar casino’s clientele. So you can imagine how much a smoking ban would impact gamblers.
The Casino Association of New Jersey, which is the gaming sector’s lobbying group has always been opposed to past efforts that have been undertaken to bam casino smoking. The Association has always been firm that such a ban would result in massive revenue losses
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Should Smoking in Casinos Be Banned?
Casino workers and anti-smoking advocates have been fighting to have casino smoking banned for years. Banning smoking on casino floors is intended to protect casino workers from second-hand smoke and its side effects which often include the development of various respiratory issues.
The campaign in 2007 that led to a partial smoking ban, which is now often referred to as the 75-25 rule, may have limited smoking to a quarter of the floor. However, according to many casino workers, this only made things worse, particularly for the dealers. Once the 75-25 rule was enforced, smokers have been using one-quarter of the floor, which in many casinos, is where the table games are located.
This implies that since all the smoke is now reserved in one part of the casino floor, dealers in the designated smoking area have been inhaling more smoke than ever before. As a result, the nature of table dealers’ jobs has made them extremely susceptible to the impact of second-hand smoke. and because dealers are confined to the floor for a long period, it is impossible for them to protect themselves from secondhand smoke.
Plus, trying to confine smoke to one region of the casino has not proven effective, even in larger casinos. That’s because smoke drifts easily even to the non-smoking areas of the casinos. In casinos floors that do not have ventilators and enclosures, the impact of secondhand smoke is even direr.
According to research, one million individuals die every year just by inhaling the smoke around them. Some people make the mistake of assuming that secondhand smoke is benign or not as dangerous as the actual smoking itself. However, this could not be further from the truth.
Although it may be referred to as second-hand smoke, the health impacts of those that are exposed to this type of smoke are rightly first-hand. Based on studies done by the United States National Library of Medicine, secondhand smoke contains thousands of chemicals, hundreds of which are toxic and known to lead to cancer. That is why casino workers have been lobbying for years to have smoking banned in casinos across the entire state.
Case in point, last year, Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (C.E.A.S.E.) organized a rally in State House Trenton to highlight the dangers of smoking on casino staff. Casino workers claim that the smoke around the tables has been intolerable and staff members have been falling ill for years despite advocates and lawmakers pushing for the ban for more than 20 years.
Final Thoughts
Even though the Casino Association claims that the ban would devastate the market, the group Americans for Non-Smokers’ Rights have negated this opinion. According to the group Americans for Non-Smokers’ Rights, the market will likely rebound after a few months just like it did for tribal gaming casinos in Las Vegas. This is evidence that even though the market would be impacted by the ban at first, things would eventually stabilize after a little while.
