Support for a smoking ban is widespread among New Jersey lawmakers, with a bipartisan majority in both chambers. Just three of the nine casinos - Borgata, Ocean and Resorts - surpassed their pre-pandemic revenue levels in terms of money won from in-person gamblers last year. The other half was won online and must be shared with third parties including tech platforms and sports books. The issue is among the most divisive in Atlantic City, where even though casino revenue matched its all time high of $5.2 billion last year, only half that amount was won from in-person gamblers. They are waging similar campaigns in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Whether to ban smoking is one of the most controversial issues not only in Atlantic City, but in casinos in other states where workers have expressed concern about secondhand smoke. “I think, ‘You mean the customer that’s killing me?’” “They say it would embarrass the customer,” said Janice Green, 62, a craps dealer at the Tropicana. Every time Robin Vitulle clocks in at her job as a dealer at Hard Rock, she has the same thought: “Is this the day I inhale the cloud of smoke that gives me cancer? Or is it too late already?”ĭealers say they are forbidden by their employers from waving the smoke away.
