Atlantic City Casino Smoking Opponents Take Fight to Senator’s Office

Posted on: January 19, 2024, 08:33h. 

Last updated on: January 19, 2024, 11:10h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Atlantic City casino smoking opponents rallying outside a state senator’s office who they say flip-flopped his support were invited inside amid frigid cold temperatures on Wednesday.

Atlantic City casino smoking
Atlantic City casino workers opposed to indoor smoking meet with New Jersey Sen. Vince Polistina (R) on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. Polistina is pictured explaining why he is supportive of giving casinos the chance to develop possible compromises. (Image: Press of Atlantic City)

Members of CEASE, Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects, and table game dealers represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union went to New Jersey Sen. Vince Polistina’s (R-Atlantic) office in Egg Harbor Township. The casino smoking opponents voiced their displeasure with Polistina agreeing to give the casinos time to develop possible compromises, with one early idea being fully enclosed smoking rooms.

The casinos argue a full tobacco ban on their gaming floors would lead to revenue losses and massive job cuts. They say enclosed smoking spaces separate from nonsmoking gaming areas would resolve the controversy, and only workers willing to work in such smoking environments would deal cards and attend to slots in the enclosures.

CEASE says that’s a bunch of garbage.

“You want to build smoking rooms to be staffed by volunteers. We are going to be ‘voluntold’ to go in,” said Pete Naccarelli, a 27-year table game dealer at the Borgata who heads the Atlantic City CEASE chapter. Naccarelli’s comments inside the state senator’s office were first reported by the Press of Atlantic City.

CEASE members told the state senator that casinos have put a pregnant woman and a co-worker battling cancer at smoking tables.

Senator Defends Position

Polistina initially supported state legislation to force the nine casinos in Atlantic City to require smokers to go outside to light up. He attended CEASE rallies in the past and was seemingly one of the grassroots coalition’s strongest allies.

I was with you from the start, stood with you at the rallies, stood with you in Trenton,” Polistina said. “I agree with the fact that we should not have smoking in any indoor facility anywhere in the state of New Jersey.”

Polistina blamed politics for his change of heart. He said the South Jersey Democratic delegation lost seats during the recent election and the odds of implementing a full smoking ban lengthened.

Polistina says he would still vote in favor of a casino smoking ban should it come up for a vote on the Senate floor. But in December, he said he supported allowing the casinos to develop solutions that might sidestep a full smoking ban.

“The casinos believe they can meet our goal of eliminating employee and patron exposure to secondhand smoke with a structured plan and additional capital investment into their properties over the next couple of years,” Polistina said last month. “Given that their concerns about potential job losses and closures have resonated with some lawmakers, this is the direction I believe we need to go so that we don’t lose momentum on this issue.”

Union Also to Blame, Says Senator

While the UAW supports a smoking ban, as their casino members are frontline workers who deal cards, Unite Here Local 54 does not.

Local 54 represents many more casino workers in Atlantic City than does UAW, but their members work primarily in resort operations. Such jobs include waitstaff, bartenders, cooks, porters, and housekeepers.

Local 54 has sided with the casinos in thinking a smoking ban would relocate smokers to casinos in Philadelphia, where state law permits smoking on up to half of the gaming floors. Harrah’s, Live!, and Rivers continue to allow casino smoking, while Parx Casino is smoke-free. Parx was the top-grossing casino in Pennsylvania’s 17-casino market in 2023.