A new report from Politico found that Philip Morris made campaign contributions to New Jersey state legislators in the second quarter of 2021 that “are among the largest it has made in the last decade.”
A subsidiary of one of the largest cigarette makers in the world doled out almost $50,000 for New Jersey elections including more than $36,000 to campaign committees backing Democrats who had led attempts to ban tobacco use in casinos.
Philip Morris gave $18,000 to the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee and $18,500 to the Senate Democratic Majority Committee in June. Separately, the company also contributed $11,000 each to the Assembly Republican Victory and Senate Republican Majority committees.
Gaming executives “have yet to explain how profits at Atlantic City casinos 11 percent were higher in the first quarter of 2021 than in the first quarter of 2019. Repeat: When smoking was banned, profits rose…It’s time to get a bill to [Gov. Murphy’s] desk, and it must be a priority in the next session. Casino workers cannot hold their breath forever,” wrote the editorial board of the Newark Star-Ledger in support of closing the loophole.
Longtime Pittsburgh Tribune-Review gaming writer Mark Gruetze called on Pennsylvania’s elected leaders and casinos to also go smokefree. “One side effect of the pandemic was forcing each Pennsylvania casino to test how customers reacted to a smoking ban. Casinos’ bottom lines prove people like it or, at the very least, it didn’t matter.”
