There’s a lot of vices to indulge in the city once known as “America’s Playground,” but if one group of workers has their way, smoking in the city’s casinos won’t be counted among those much longer.
Casino employees are appearing before two New Jersey state assembly committees to testify in support of a bill that would ban smoking in all nine of Atlantic City’s famed gambling establishments.
Among the workers who have already testified, a group that includes cocktail servers and dealers, some reported health and breathing issues that they suspect stem from their prolonged exposure to secondhand smoke.
The new legislation seeks to close a loophole that was written into New Jersey’s 2006 indoor smoking ban, one that specifically exempts casinos in Atlantic City, allowing smoking on 25% of the casino floor at all nine of the city’s casinos.
Casino owners are opposed to the new full ban, saying it will drive business to neighboring states where smoking is allowed, but the measure has substantial support from state lawmakers.
“It’s immoral for the owners of casinos to think their employees are expendable,” said Sen. Joseph Vitale, chairperson of the committee holding the hearing Monday. “If you smell it, it’s in your lungs.”
“I am responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of chips,” Borgata dealer Pete Naccarelli, one of the leaders of the anti-smoking movement in Atlantic City, told the Associated Press. “When a player 12 inches away blows a cloud of smoke at me, I can’t move, and I’m prohibited from waving the smoke away, a gesture that would be considered rude. We all have people that love us. We don’t think it’s fair that we should have to choose between a paycheck and our health.”
While no vote has been scheduled on the measure yet, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has said he will sign it into law if it passes the state legislature.
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