New Jersey casino employees organized in an effort to close the loophole in the state indoor smoking ban held a news conference at the United Auto Workers headquarters outside Atlantic City to propose outdoor smoking areas as the only viable alternative to serve customers who smoke.
“The solution is an outdoor smoking area,” said Pete Naccarelli, a casino dealer and co-leader of Casino Employees Against Smoking’s Effects. “It’s not acceptable to me to blow smoke in my face. Indoors or outdoors, that’s unhealthy.”
Two pieces of legislation, one in the state Senate and the other in the Assembly, would ban indoor smoking in casinos and simulcasting facilities, bringing them under the existing law which bans indoor smoking in all other public facilities.
They are now co-sponsored by half of New Jersey’s legislators, and lawmakers are expected to debate the issue when back in session in September. Governor Phil Murphy has said he will sign a smoking ban into law if a bill reaches his desk.
“When Maryland opened (casinos) from the beginning they were smoke-free,” said Chris Moyer with Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights. “Initially they had outdoor areas where people could smoke and gamble, but they have since become hardly distinguishable from indoor spaces.”
Moyer noted that Maryland’s law allowed for consideration of an area as “outdoors” even with walls and a ceiling with only a small window opening. “The way the bill was written it allowed them to create outdoor areas that are not truly outdoors,” he said. “That would not be an acceptable situation here.”
Along those same lines, the dealers are rejecting one legislative proposal that would create designated outdoor smoking areas and allow them to “opt out” of assignments to staff the areas.
“The so-called opt-out idea only forces workers to risk their health for a paycheck,” Naccarelli said. “It is not a solution at all.
“A casino worker living paycheck to paycheck should not have to risk their health by working in a smoking area just to get by,” he said. “But that’s exactly what would happen, and the most vulnerable workers would suffer most. Legislators should recognize the problematic scenario this would create and reject this half-baked idea.”
Current law allows casinos to permit smoking in 25 percent of their gaming space, but the air is shared with non-smoking areas.
“It’s been proposed to have indoor rooms, even if enclosed (for smokers only),” added Corinne Orlando of the American Heart Association. “That’s not something we think is a solution. The doors would open and close, and workers would have to work in rooms.”
The group criticized the Casino Association of New Jersey, which opposes the smoking ban, for its claim that business will drop and casinos will close if indoor smoking is banned.
“Casinos always mention it’s bad for business and jobs (to ban smoking),” said Patrick Ashton of the United Auto Workers, which represents dealers in several casinos. “When internet gaming came in, they never said it’s going to affect business and jobs”
“They have been in the business 40 years. This isn’t 1985 anymore,” Naccarelli said. “We are seeing reports now that casinos that have gone non-smoking have done better,” such as Philadelphia-area casinos.
Allowing smoking can also enable problem gambling, Moyer said.
“One of the core tenants of responsible gaming is taking breaks,” he said. “If you are not forced to step outside to smoke, you are not forced to take a break. So casinos are getting more money. The big question we should be asking is, ‘Why is that OK?’”
“Casino players would swim through a moat of alligators to get back to that table,” Naccarelli said. “They’re coming back. It’s a ridiculous argument.”
