Atlantic Metropolis on line casino staff supportive of ending indoor smoking on the 9 gaming resorts are hoping a management change on the On line casino Affiliation of New Jersey is of their favor.
Resorts On line casino Lodge CEO Mark Giannantonio this week was named president of the CANJ. The affiliation is the lobbying group representing the pursuits of the Atlantic Metropolis casinos within the New Jersey Trenton capital.
Giannantonio changed outgoing Laborious Rock Atlantic Metropolis CEO Joe Lupo within the position. Lupo spoke out in protection of casinos being allowed to allow indoor smoking on as much as 25% of their gaming area. However resort staff aligned with “On line casino Workers In opposition to Smoking’s Results (CEASE),” the nonprofit main the anti-casino smoking struggle in Atlantic Metropolis, hope Giannantonio may be extra receptive to their regulatory marketing campaign.
It’s been gorgeous to see the lengths to which CANJ has gone in disregarding our well being, even when the information don’t assist claims concerning the financial penalties,” a CEASE letter addressed to Giannantonio this week declared.
“We wish Atlantic Metropolis casinos to thrive. We additionally need to be round for our youngsters and grandkids for a lot of extra years. We worry that persevering with to work in a smoke-filled atmosphere will jeopardize that,” the CEASE letter, signed by the group’s three co-founders, Nicole Vitola, Pete Naccarelli, and Lamont White, continued.
Business Claims Rejected
The 9 casinos say a whole smoking ban on their gaming flooring would put the properties at a aggressive drawback. Casinos in close by Philadelphia allow smoking in sure areas. The Atlantic Metropolis gaming trade argues that it’s already tough to draw gamblers to the New Jersey shore outdoors of the summer season months. Stripping a key aspect of their operations — indoor smoking — would solely make issues worse.
The CANJ commissioned a examine on what kind of penalties a smoke-free mandate would have on enterprise. Spectrum Gaming Group concluded that an indoor smoking ban would result in an 11% discount in annual gross gaming income within the first 12 months after implementation. That, the assessment reasoned, would result in as many as 2,500 jobs being minimize.
The casinos, in addition to the gaming union that represents about 10,000 resort staff, are behind these conclusions. They purpose that the examine supplies factual information as to why a smoking ban shouldn’t be presently thought of in Trenton. For the state to drive the casinos to go totally smoke-free, the New Jersey Legislature would wish to amend its Smoke-Free Air Act. It handed that invoice in 2006, which features a provision permitting on line casino smoking.
CEASE says the Spectrum examine, which was paid for by the Atlantic Metropolis on line casino trade, reached unjustified conclusions to solely fulfill its shopper.
“A very impartial examine performed by Las Vegas-based C3 Gaming launched in June discovered that COVID-19 has modified buyer habits and that smoke-free casinos have truly carried out higher financially than their smoking counterparts,” the CEASE letter said. The C3 assessment was not commissioned by CEASE.
Name to Motion
Lupo sought to discredit the CEASE marketing campaign. Throughout his deal with earlier than the Public Relations Council of Better Atlantic Metropolis in February, Lupo stated {that a} smattering of anti-smoking on line casino staff petitioning alongside the Boardwalk may not be totally consultant of the gaming labor drive as a complete.
I don’t consider that 30 folks strolling down the Boardwalk represents the 21,000 workers which are employed within the casinos,” Lupo stated of an earlier CEASE occasion.
CEASE claims to now have “1000’s of on line casino sellers” and different resort staff supporting its smoke-free mission. The group would enormously like so as to add Giannantonio to its record of supporters.
“As you start your tenure main CANJ, we urge you to reject enterprise as typical and as a substitute take this chance to face up for what is correct,” the letter concluded.