{"id":251189,"date":"2023-01-04T10:25:58","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T16:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=251189"},"modified":"2023-01-04T11:14:20","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T17:14:20","slug":"atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic City Casino Union Opposes Efforts to End Indoor Smoking"},"content":{"rendered":"

The leading Atlantic City casino union that represents more than 10K workers has come out in opposition to efforts to extinguish indoor smoking at the nine resorts.<\/p>\n

\"Atlantic
Cynthia Hallett, president of “Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights,” speaks in September 2022 at a protest of ongoing Atlantic City casino smoking. While many casino workers and state lawmakers want to end indoor casino smoking, the leading casino union in Atlantic City does not. (Image: AP<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unite Here Local 54 represents Atlantic City casino employees who are employed in an array of nongaming positions, including housekeepers, bartenders, cocktail servers, waitstaff, cooks, bellmen, and doormen. The union is an affiliate of the international labor union Unite Here, which claims to represent 300K people across North America.<\/p>\n

\n

Bob McDevitt is Local 54’s longtime president. The Atlantic City union boss says ending indoor casino smoking in New Jersey<\/a> would result in many gamblers taking their business to neighboring Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The five casinos in the Philadelphia area are permitted to designate up to 50% of their gaming floor space for smoking, though two — Parx and Rivers Philadelphia — have opted to go smoke-free. New Jersey’s 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act provided exemptions for Atlantic City casinos to allow indoor tobacco use on up to 25% of their gaming floor.<\/p>\n

Union Opposition<\/b><\/h2>\n

McDevitt shares the opinion of the Casino Association of New Jersey (CANJ), the industry’s Trenton lobbying arm, which believes eliminating smoking would hurt gaming. If fewer people come to gamble, they argue, the Atlantic City resorts will see other revenue, such as hotel, dining, entertainment, and shopping, decline.<\/p>\n

\n

If you take away the option to smoke, and you allow it in Pennsylvania, there’s going to be a net drop in gaming in New Jersey,”<\/strong> McDevitt told NJ Spotlight<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Though the hospitality union is opposed to a regulatory change with smoking, some Atlantic City gaming workers say it’s long overdue to value employee health over the casinos’ bottom lines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It’s absurd. It’s barbaric to have to be the smoke’s filter,” said Pete Naccarelli, a table game dealer at the Borgata who in 2021 cofounded CEASE — “Casino Employees Against Smoking’s Effects.”<\/p>\n

“It’s impossible to avoid the smoke, even when people are trying to be polite,” added Lamont White, another CEASE coleader who also works as a Borgata dealer. “What we know about secondhand smoke and the long-term damage is always on the back of our minds.”<\/p>\n

State Decision<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Atlantic City casino smoking decision will ultimately be settled by state lawmakers and Gov. Phil Murphy (D). Murphy has said repeatedly that he would sign legislation to close the casino smoking loophole. But he cannot singlehandedly overhaul the regulatory environment.<\/p>\n

Legislation to make Atlantic City casinos go entirely smoke-free has had adequate support for many months by way of cosponsors in the state Assembly and Senate.<\/p>\n

\n

Assembly Bill 2151 has the backing of 51 of the 80 New Jersey Assembly members. Senate Bill 254, an identical version of the Assembly bill, is supported by 23 of the Senate’s 40-member chamber.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Both pieces of legislation have enough votes to send the measures to Murphy’s desk. But political insiders in Trenton have suggested that the Democratic-controlled Legislature is delaying casino smoking consideration until this November’s election. That’s when all 120 state Assembly and Senate seats are on the ballot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The leading Atlantic City casino union that represents more than 10K workers has come out in opposition to efforts to extinguish indoor smoking at the nine resorts. Unite Here Local 54 represents Atlantic City casino employees who are employed in an array of nongaming positions, including housekeepers, bartenders, cocktail servers, waitstaff, cooks, bellmen, and doormen. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":251199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81885,13592],"tags":[25,83531,84072,26],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAtlantic City Casino Union Opposes Efforts to End Indoor Smoking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Atlantic City casino union that represents 10,000 workers has come out in opposition to efforts to extinguish indoor smoking.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Atlantic City Casino Union Opposes Efforts to End Indoor Smoking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Atlantic City casino union that represents 10,000 workers has come out in opposition to efforts to extinguish indoor smoking.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-04T16:25:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-04T17:14:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20220922150956-632cbe8c2447ecd80c77f0b4jpeg.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CasinoorgDevinO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/\",\"name\":\"Atlantic City Casino Union Opposes Efforts to End Indoor Smoking\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20220922150956-632cbe8c2447ecd80c77f0b4jpeg.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-04T16:25:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-04T17:14:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\"},\"description\":\"The Atlantic City casino union that represents 10,000 workers has come out in opposition to efforts to extinguish indoor smoking.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20220922150956-632cbe8c2447ecd80c77f0b4jpeg.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20220922150956-632cbe8c2447ecd80c77f0b4jpeg.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Cynthia Hallett, president of Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, speaks in September 2022 at a protest of ongoing Atlantic City casino smoking. While many casino workers and state lawmakers want to end indoor casino smoking, the leading casino union in Atlantic City does not. (Image: AP)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Regional News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Atlantic City\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/atlantic-city\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Atlantic City Casino Union Opposes Efforts to End Indoor Smoking\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\",\"name\":\"Devin O'Connor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Devin O'Connor\"},\"description\":\"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Atlantic City Casino Union Opposes Efforts to End Indoor Smoking","description":"The Atlantic City casino union that represents 10,000 workers has come out in opposition to efforts to extinguish indoor smoking.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Atlantic City Casino Union Opposes Efforts to End Indoor Smoking","og_description":"The Atlantic City casino union that represents 10,000 workers has come out in opposition to efforts to extinguish indoor smoking.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2023-01-04T16:25:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-04T17:14:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20220922150956-632cbe8c2447ecd80c77f0b4jpeg.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Devin O'Connor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CasinoorgDevinO","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Devin O'Connor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/","name":"Atlantic City Casino Union Opposes Efforts to End Indoor Smoking","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20220922150956-632cbe8c2447ecd80c77f0b4jpeg.jpg","datePublished":"2023-01-04T16:25:58+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-04T17:14:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf"},"description":"The Atlantic City casino union that represents 10,000 workers has come out in opposition to efforts to extinguish indoor smoking.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20220922150956-632cbe8c2447ecd80c77f0b4jpeg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20220922150956-632cbe8c2447ecd80c77f0b4jpeg.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Cynthia Hallett, president of Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, speaks in September 2022 at a protest of ongoing Atlantic City casino smoking. While many casino workers and state lawmakers want to end indoor casino smoking, the leading casino union in Atlantic City does not. (Image: AP)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/atlantic-city-casino-union-opposes-efforts-to-end-indoor-smoking\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Regional News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Atlantic City","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/atlantic-city\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Atlantic City Casino Union Opposes Efforts to End Indoor Smoking"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf","name":"Devin O'Connor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","caption":"Devin O'Connor"},"description":"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}