More than half of state lawmakers co-sponsoring the bill
“We have to endure hours on the job with secondhand smoke in our faces without the ability to turn away,” said Nicole Vitola, who also works as a dealer at the Borgata. “It’s incredible that we’re here begging again to have the same thing everyone else has,” said Lamont White, a dealer at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. That comes in spite of the controversial lack of smoking prohibitions inside gambling floors, a standard many other casinos nationwide have in place. The popular tourist destination reported over $4bn in yearly revenue at the end of October and is on pace to eclipse $5bn by the end of the year. A rug pullĬurrent New Jersey law prohibits smoking in public businesses everywhere except for Atlantic City, where smoking can be allowed on 25% of a casino floor. The Democrats said they would be willing to listen to alternatives proposed by the casino industry in the meantime until a vote can be taken for the current bill.
This is yet another turn in a saga that has been going on for years. Instead, the vote, which was going to happen in front of many casino workers and anti-smoking lobbyists, was delayed because Democratic lawmakers revealed they didn’t have enough internal support to advance the proposal.
Thursday was supposed to be the day a bill to end smoking in Atlantic City casinos received its first round of votes in the state Congress.
