Casino & Bingo: NJ Casinos Page 2

By Jonathan On Jul 5, 2017

Casino Update

Smoking ban threatened Atlantic City’s identity

November 10, 2008

Atlantic City, commonly thought of as the Vegas of the East Coast, was in danger of becoming just another second-tier gaming city. The much-debated smoking ban would have been the end of an era if the re percussions were anything like the ones that have beleaguered other casinos (editorial, “Up in smoke,” Nov. 5).

In Illinois, where I reside, for example, casinos are struggling mightily since implementation of a statewide smoking ban. Many anti-smoking special-interest groups try to downplay the economic effects, but the numbers are too staggering to reasonably dispute. Since the beginning of 2008, the cumulative adjusted gross receipts of Illinois casinos are down 18.35 percent from where they were at this time last year.

By comparison, Indiana and Iowa, two neighboring states where smoking is still allowed on gaming floors, continue to outperform Illinois casinos. There would likely have been a similar boon for Connecticut casinos if the Atlantic City smoking ban had been made permanent. At stake for the city are not only tax revenue, tourism and jobs at a time when such things are hard to come by, but also the city’s identity.

— JOHN NOTHDURFT, Chicago The writer is budget and tax legislative specialist for The Heartland Institute (Heartland.org).

Nonsmokers complain about lifting of casino smoking ban

October 29, 2008
By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Staff Writer, 609-272-7258

Frances Johnson took a deep breath of air and declared her surroundings to be smoke-free. Then she nodded at a sign resting on top of a slot machine that stated, “No smoking permitted.”
Why, then, was Johnson, a nonsmoker, so unhappy?

“If they want to go somewhere else to smoke, that’s fine. But I don’t want them here with me,” she said, bluntly.

Johnson is dreading Nov. 16, the day Atlantic City’s temporary casino smoking ban will end and all of the cigar-chomping, cigarette-puffing gamblers will return to the gaming floor. Before, it was the smokers who were complaining because of the ban. Now, the nonsmokers are incensed following City Council’s
5-4 vote Monday night to lift the smoking restrictions.

Johnson, of New York, was playing a penny slot machine Tuesday at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. Just steps away was a glass-enclosed smoking lounge – segregated from the slot machines and table games – where smokers are currently confined.

“I want them to stay in there,” Johnson said of the smokers, while pointing to the lounge. “I’m very sensitive to smoke. If a smoker sits down next to me, I’ll get up and leave.”
Gus Efthimiou, on the other hand, couldn’t wait to get out of the Taj Mahal’s smoking lounge. Between puffs on a Parliament, he explained he has grown tired of having to interrupt his gambling to grab a smoke.

“I want to smoke on the casino floor,” said Efthimiou, of College Park, Md. “I want it, as soon as possible, to go back to the way it used to be.”

Rows and rows of slot machines were empty Tuesday morning on the Taj Mahal’s sprawling casino floor. Casino executives have blamed the smoking ban for further cutting into business while they are already struggling to attract customers in a sluggish economy.

City Council agreed to lift the smoking ban for at least a year to give the casinos more time to recover from the nation’s economic crisis. On Nov. 16, casinos will revert to a previous law that allowed smoking on 25 percent of the gaming floor.

Overall, gaming revenue at the city’s 11 casinos dropped 19.5 percent in a seven-day span ending last Friday, according to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., said revenue has declined 10 percent at the three Trump casinos since the smoking ban began.

“If this past weekend is any indication of what the next 20 days are going to be like, it’s not going to be good. It’s pretty bad,” Juliano said of the time remaining before the smoking ban ends.

Nonsmokers, though, maintain that business actually is up since the ban began. They claim the ban has encouraged more nonsmokers to come to Atlantic City.

“I’ve noticed that the casinos are more crowded since they banned smoking,” said Ottavio Cocolicchio, of Meriden, Conn.

Cocolicchio, who was at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa on Tuesday, said the gaming industry now risks alienating the nonsmokers who have enjoyed the smoke-free environment in the past two weeks.

“We’ll still come back to the casinos when the smoking ban is over, but we won’t come as often,” he said.

Nonsmokers Jim and Valerie McGee, of North Arlington, Bergen County, were busy playing a slot machine next to a sign that said “Borgata is a smoke-free facility.”

“As far as we’re concerned, it can stay no-smoking,” Valerie McGee said as her husband nodded in agreement. “Smokers can go outside, including my sister. We prefer it to be smoke-free.”

Borgata is one of the few casinos that make gamblers smoke outside. Most of the casinos have built indoor smoking lounges that contain no slot machines or gaming tables.

Braving the wind and chilly temperatures Tuesday, Joyce Karole stepped outside for a cigarette in Borgata’s smoking area, which includes heat lamps and is protected by an overhang. Karole, of Hollywood Beach, Fla., said she is used to smoking while gambling at the Seminole Hard Rock casino in her native Florida.

“It’s a nuisance to have to run away and smoke,” she said. “We’re here to gamble – not to sneak outside to smoke.”

On October 15. 2008, the Mid-Atlantic Director of Citizens Freedom Alliance, Inc, Michael J. McFadden, sent the following letter off to Atlantic City’s Mayor and City Council.? The City Council is due to vote on implementing or delaying a full smoking ban in the city’s casinos, possibly as soon as Oct. 27th.? Due to an odd quirk of timing, even though the full ban is expected to be delayed for at least a year, casinos are being hit with a period of a week or two before the 27th when they are required to enforce a ban under the previously approved city law.

**********************************************

Michael J. McFadden
Mid-Atlantic Director, Citizens Freedom Alliance, Inc.
Director, Pennsylvania Smokers Action Network
4424 Ludlow St. Philadelphia, PA 19104
Cantiloper@aol.com

October 15, 2008

Mayor Scott K. Evans
Atlantic City Council Members
City of Atlantic City
1301 Bacharach Blvd.
Atlantic City, NJ 08401

Dear Mayor Evans and Council members,
?
I realize you are under a lot of pressure from the “Smoke-Free” crowd to ban smoking in the casinos.? This is an issue I have researched, spoken, and written about for a good number of years and I believe a smoking ban would be both economically disastrous and unnecessary from a public health standpoint.??

The real motivation behind the ban can be seen from the frantic insistence that even bans smokers from giving slot machines cancer in sealed gas chambers: concern over the “health of the workers” is obviously not the major drive here.? It is also probable that there would be no shortage of smoking drink attendants who would quite happily work in such areas provided they were also allowed to take breaks in an attached smoking break room!
?
Much of the push for smoking bans has more to do with the denormalization and social engineering of smokers than with true concerns about the health of nonsmoking workers.? Such workers are seen as merely convenient puppets or chips on the board in the larger game of reducing smoking.? For the sake of social engineering, antismoking lobbyists are happy to put thousands of people out of work, and they take the bankrupting of small independent charity organizations as simply collateral damage which, conveniently, also increases donations to the large groups that pay their salaries and promote the bans.
?
The economics argument is clear.? Despite patently ridiculous claims of “no economic costs” you have seen what smoking bans have done to casinos, bars, and even state economies over the years.? I would like to refer you to a comprehensive multi-state study of the effects of smoking bans on the economies of entire states extending over periods of years. See:

http://kuneman.smokersclub.com/economic.html

You will note that this study had no prejudicial funding, used publicly verifiable data (unlike most data used to support bans) and was done by two researchers who have never received a dime from “Big Tobacco” for their smoking research.? The statistical analysis is easy to follow, and points strongly toward the conclusion that smoking bans cause harm, enormous harm, far beyond the casino floor.?? Further studies are referenced at the bottom of that page as well.

But for the moment let us remain focused on casinos.? In states with total smoking bans casinos have generally seen losses in take, jobs, and tax revenues on the order of ten to twenty percent (In the case of Minnesota, graphed below, the documented loss arguably approaches thirty percent!)? In states with partial bans similar to what you’re experiencing in Atlantic City the losses have been on the order of five to fifteen percent.? And finally, in states where no bans have been imposed casinos have generally held their own or even seen gains of five to ten percent despite downturns in the economy and high gas prices.? When lobbyists cite those latter causes as the source of your problem they are lying, pure and simple, and they know they are lying.

A well documented specific example of what smoking bans do to casinos has recently been provided in the 2008 Report of the State of Minnesota Charitable Gambling Commission.? The graph on the following page is a refinement of one presented within that report.? The original is available online at:

http://www.gcb.state.mn.us/PDF_Files/Smoking%20ban%20study.pdf

The refinement does not change the actual figures in any way: it simply separates the periods so as to clearly show the periods before the ban, during a partial ban, and after a total ban.?? The graph will show quite clearly the path the antismoking lobby has led your city down in the past year and where they will take you in the future.? The figures are a matter of public record that cannot be argued with.
?
?

Note the partial ban effect in 2005-2006.? Note that early 2007 losses continue to increase with no evidence of a “bounce-back” effect. And finally, note December’s figures: 91 million dollars instead of the 117 million from four years earlier: a raw 22% loss.? Factoring in general inflation and comparable industry growth in “Free-Choice”? states shows the real cost approaching 30%,? ultimately producing job losses and tax increases on everyone else to offset the damage.
?
Do you *really* want to do this to Atlantic City?
?
The antismoking lobbyists will tell you it’s an issue of workers’ health.? They have been campaigning relentlessly to frighten casino workers into believing that wisps of smoke are deadlier than nuclear waste. They have convinced many into siding with them, but even today, after massive spending in that effort, you don’t see many surveys of those workers on the issue.? Why?? Simply because, even after all that effort,? most workers are unlikely to support a total smoking ban.?? Workers want decent working conditions and reasonably clean air, but not total bans.

Of course quite aside from worker opinion is the question of worker health.? After the Oct. 9th vote, one casino worker shouted out “You gave us a Death Sentence!”
?
Was that true?? Are you killing people if you delay or even eliminate a ban?
?
The answer is simple, and the answer is clear.? The answer is no.
?

Despite millions of dollars poured into the effort, there are no scientific studies showing that the long term health of workers is significantly impaired by the average levels of smoke exposure in modern casinos. Contrary claims deliberately confuse the smoky conditions of fifty years ago with today’s conditions of high ventilation and air filtration; deliberately confuse concentrated ‘smoke-chambers’ with wisps of smoke in the air; deliberately confuse tobacco smoke with deadly industrial smog; and deliberately confuse itchy eyes and microscopic instrument readings with future painful deaths from lung cancer and heart disease.? Claims that today’s nonsmoking workers are being killed by low levels of smoke exposure are no more truthful than claims that smoking bans are cost free.?

They lied about the one, and they lied about the other.? And they most certainly lie when they terrify workers into thinking that their jobs? are “Death Sentences.”

If you vote for a smoking ban, you are supporting those lies despite the fact that you know better.? Citing statements from “responsible authorities” provides you no cover when you already know that those “responsible authorities” have lied to you about the costs of smoking bans.? They lied about the costs and they’ve lied about the health threats.? If you are truly concerned about workers’ lives, you will see that OSHA safety standards are met by the casinos just as for any other industry and you will save the jobs that those workers’ lives truly depend on.

Workers have the right to reasonably safe working conditions. But a guarantee to 100% smoke-free air is not such a right and should never have been considered such a right outside the words of a propaganda slogan.?

The likely economic results of a total smoking ban in your city’s casinos are clear and I would be happy to provide further documentation on them if you wish. But for the moment you need to support delaying the full implementation of a ban that will be disastrous for your city and for the workers in your city’s casinos.?

If you vote for a smoking ban, you are voting for a lie.? Voters do not like liars. In particular, voters who are out of work and paying higher taxes because of such a vote do not like liars.? The fine distinctions of why you voted for a ban that put people out of work and increased their taxes will be forgotten in the voting booth.

Sincerely,
Michael J. McFadden
cc: Council Members, Donald Trump, selected media

Casinos Choke on Smoke Bans

Sep 19, 2008

Taking deep breaths of clean air won’t stave off panic for casinos confronted with smoking bans in an increasing number of states, the Wall Street Journal reports. In Illinois, casinos have posted double-digit revenue drops since a ban took effect in January. “Gamblers like to smoke and drink while they gamble,” explained one consultant. “You’ve got three co-dependent bad behaviors that go together.”

When gamblers are forced to leave tables or machines for a smoke, casinos say, they’re less likely to return. “The joy of playing is that you’re focused. . All of life’s hassles disappear,” the analyst said. Get up for a smoke and “that’s it, you’re leaving the zone.” But advocates argue that the health benefits for employees outweigh bottom-line concerns.

Atlantic City Reconsiders Casino Smoking Ban

October 3, 2008
by Joshua McCarthy

Instead of the old model of gamblers crossing borders to play Atlantic City casinos, a great exodus could occur, leaving millions in lost revenue marked for care of seniors and disabled citizens.

Politicians have refused to accept the argument that casinos should be allowed to give patrons the option to smoke as a matter of individual rights. However, one thing that makes a politician think twice is a threat to his revenue stream, and smoking bans have been established as a major cause of declining casino revenues.

Atlantic City had been scheduled to impose a city-wide ban on smoking in casinos October 15th. But Donald Trump is leading a group of casino executives warning of the dire consequences for both casinos and the governments dependent on them if the ban is enacted.

Gambling analysts have projected that casino income, already in an annual decline of over five percent a year, may reach into a double-digit yearly drop if smoking is outlawed.

City Councilmam Marty Small has discussed postponing the ban until the economy is stronger and more prepared to deal with the negative effects. He said,”We have to do what is in the best interests of Atlantic City as a whole. Casinos pay eighty percent of our taxes and provide thousands of jobs for city residents.”

Trump warned that if smoking were no longer permitted, thousands of gamblers would seek venues in neighboring states to play. Instead of the old model of gamblers crossing borders to play Atlantic City casinos, a great exodus could occur, leaving millions in lost revenue marked for care of seniors and disabled citizens.

Illinois casinos have suffered major losses in revenue after imposing state-regulated smoking bans, and Colorado casinos have defied new state laws demanding smoking be forbidden, while they search for legal loopholes. Meanwhile, online casino membership grows.

Sherman Bradley, gaming analyst for Online Casino Advisory, said, “Here is an example of a confluence of what is right and what is prudent. Government should not be interfering with either the businessman’s right to decide the nature of his shop nor the individual’s right to decide his own life choice. Now, state regulation will not only breach issues of personal freedom, but also cost the state dearly in taxes.

“The answer is clear; leave smoking choices to operators, and let those who find smoking establishments objectionable enjoy themselves elsewhere.”

Smoking Ban in Atlantic City Casinos Must Wait A Couple Weeks
Casino Gambling Web – Tampa,FL,USA
Atlantic City is close to making sure that there is no smoking inside the city’s casino floors, but the ordinance will have to wait. …

Smokers fume over possibility of casino smoking ban
Press of Atlantic City – Atlantic City,NJ,USA
City Council was poised Wednesday to vote on a complete smoking ban on the casino floor, but the measure was pulled from the agenda for further debate in …

Atlantic City balks at full ban on casino smoking
Press of Atlantic City – Atlantic City,NJ,USA
Recent discussions among City Council members and some casino officials altered plans to propose a full casino smoking ban today, instead settling with a …

AC smoking ban would permit lounges
Newsday – Long Island,NY,USA
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – Atlantic City tries again to ban all smoking on the floor of its 11 casinos. The City Council is scheduled to consider a compromise law …

Trump: Atlantic City casinos should sue over smoking ban
April 24, 2008
By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer
Donald Trump called on 11 casinos Thursday to sue over a new smoking ban approved by the Atlantic City Council, arguing that it created a competitive disadvantage.
The real estate magnate, chairman of a company that owns three casinos in Atlantic City, said he would not file his own suit but wants the Casino Association of New Jersey to stop the ban from taking effect in October.
“I’m not a smoker, and I don’t personally like what smoking does to people,” Trump told The Associated Press in an interview in his Manhattan office. “But this puts us at a huge disadvantage.”
Slot parlors in the Philadelphia area, which have been stealing many of Atlantic City’s most profitable and reliable customers over the past year and a half, permit them to smoke while gambling. Some smokers shunned Atlantic City last April when the city imposed a partial ban that restricts smoking to no more than 25 percent of the casino floor.
But anti-smoking advocates said the partial restriction didn’t work. The smoking areas were not walled off and separated from nonsmoking areas, as last year’s law had called for, and smoke still wafts throughout the casino floor.
The ordinance allows casinos to construct gambling-free smoking lounges but does not require them to.
The association’s president did not return calls seeking comment. Joseph Corbo has previously said the industry would reluctantly go along with a ban if it had enough time to prepare.
Trump is the chairman and largest shareholder of Trump Entertainment Resorts, which operates the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, and Trump Marina Hotel Casino.

Atlantic City bans smoking on casino floor
4/23/2008
By WAYNE PARRY ? ?
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Smoking will be prohibited on the gambling floor at all 11 Atlantic City casinos as of Oct. 15.
Capping a battle that lasted more than a year, the City Council voted 9-0 Wednesday to end the last major loophole to a tough statewide ban on smoking in public buildings that had conspicuously exempted gambling halls.
But patrons will still be able to light up in unstaffed smoking lounges away from the table games and slot machines, if the individual casinos choose to build them.
Casino workers — many wearing T-shirts with the slogan “Nobody deserves to work in an ashtray” — burst into sustained applause when the votes were counted and chanted “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
“The employees of Atlantic City’s casinos have hit a jackpot of their own tonight,” said Dr. Arnold M. Baskies, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society in New Jersey and New York. “Hardworking casino employees have been keeping Atlantic City’s multibillion dollar casino industry on a roll, but have been gambling with their lives for far too long.”
Mayor Scott Evans said he would sign the ordinance within 10 days.
“We’re going to save lives with this,” he said. “People are going to be able to come here and enjoy a nice, smoke-free environment.”
Marybeth Litchholt, a dealer for 21 years at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, said it’s about time that casino workers’ health is as valued as those of other workers in New Jersey.
“Because of cigarette smoke, I have sinus problems,” she said. “There are times when I’m working in the smoking section when I’m short of breath. You can just feel it in your lungs. My clothes stink.”
More than two dozen states nationwide regulate smoking inside casinos, eight ban smoking altogether inside the gambling halls, and two others will impose a total ban starting in 2009, according to Karen Blumenfeld, policy director of the New Jersey Group Against Smoking Pollution.
In January 2007, Atlantic City tried to pass its own law banning smoking in the casinos, but backed down under withering pressure from the casino industry, which claimed the measure could cost them 20 percent of their revenue and mean the loss of as many as 3,400 jobs. The City Council then enacted a compromise law restricting smoking to no more than 25 percent of the casino floor.
But that hasn’t worked. The smoking areas are still not walled-off and separated from nonsmoking areas, as last year’s law had called for, and smoke still wafts throughout the casino floor. Smokers still feel persecuted, and casinos still fret about losing business in an already bad economic climate, which is being worsened by the growing success of slots parlors in nearby Pennsylvania and New York.
Joe Corbo, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, declined comment on the vote.
Kim Hoverman of Stone Creek in Cumberland County is a smoker who plans to take her business elsewhere.
“I don’t think there should be separate areas,” she said as she played a slot machine and puffed on a cigarette at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. “I won’t come here at all; I live closer to Philadelphia anyway. And I hate smoking outside.”
Tom McGuigan of Philadelphia also was sampling the slots at the Taj Mahal. But he, too, will stick to slots parlors in his hometown once Atlantic City’s smoking ban takes effect in October.
“I like to smoke,” he said. “I’ll do it in Philadelphia.”
But Kim Hesse, a Caesars dealer and smoking opponent, predicts people like McGuigan will be the minority.
“There are lots more nonsmokers than smokers,” she said. “I see it every day at my table; I’d say it’s about 80-20 in favor of non-smokers.”
When the ban takes effect, Hesse said, there will be some drop-off in the number of smokers who come to gamble, but she feels it will be insignificant.
“Think back just a few years ago: You could smoke in malls, you could smoke in restaurants, you could even smoke in hospitals,” she said. “Now you can’t, and it’s become the norm. People are used to it. “
Perhaps the most surprising reaction from a smoker came from Patricia Mitchell of Washington, D.C. Shortly before the ban was enacted, she seemed resigned to it.
“It’s for my own benefit,” she said between pulls on a cigarette and pokes at a slot machine at the Taj Mahal. “I don’t object to it because I need to cut down. And I need to get away from these machines.”

Trump fumes over proposed casino smoking ban
By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Staff Writer, 609-272-7258
April 11, 2008
ATLANTIC CITY – Donald Trump, the private citizen, detests smoking. Donald Trump, the casino owner, is a smoking advocate.
Warning of possible legal action, the casino mogul denounced a proposed smoking ban that would prevent gamblers from lighting up while playing the slot machines and gaming tables at the city’s 11 casinos.
“It’s a sad day for Atlantic City,” Trump said in an interview Thursday. “It puts Atlantic City at a huge competitive disadvantage with casinos in other states.”
Trump’s comments came the day after City Council unanimously introduced a measure that would outlaw smoking on the casino floor beginning Oct. 15, but would allow customers to smoke in lounges away from the slot machines and gaming tables.
The ordinance, scheduled for a final vote in two weeks, would abolish the limited casino smoking areas currently allowed under the city’s “75-25” law. Smoking is permitted on 25 percent of the casino floor under the partial smoking ban, now a year old.
Trump, a nonsmoker who has served as a spokesman in national public service announcements to end smoking, has been an outspoken critic of the partial casino smoking ban. Pointing to the industry’s 5.7 percent decline in casino revenue last year, he claims smokers have fled Atlantic City for gaming markets that have no smoking restrictions.
With a complete smoking ban on the horizon, Trump is worried about an even deeper cut in business. He also warned that New Jersey could lose millions of dollars in casino-generated tax revenue.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars will be lost in future taxes,” he said.
Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino and Trump Marina Hotel Casino are members of the Casino Association of New Jersey, a lobbying group that represents Atlantic City’s gaming industry. Trump said the association should consider a lawsuit to block the smoking ban.
“If I were in charge of the Casino Association, I would challenge it,” he said. “But I’m not in charge. If I were in charge, I would file an immediate lawsuit.”
Casino Association President Joseph A. Corbo Jr. was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Mark Giannantonio, president of Tropicana Casino and Resort and a Casino Association board member, characterized the smoking lounges as “the lesser of two evils.”
“Let’s face it, taking smoking off the casino floor and putting it in smoking lounges is better than having a complete smoking ban,” Giannantonio said. “A 100 percent smoking ban would have been devastating. We now have the ability to put smokers in smoking lounges instead of having a 100 percent smoking ban.”
Dennis M. Farrell Jr., a casino analyst for Wachovia Capital Markets, predicted a smoking ban would hurt the most at the gaming tables, where there already is a relatively high concentration of smoking.
“In the smoking areas, the utilization is very high,” Farrell said. “Removing that, it will take some time for the market to adjust. People will tend to play less.”
Anti-smoking advocates say the proposed ban would protect gamblers and gaming employees from the dangers of secondhand smoke. The United Auto Workers u nion, which is trying to u nionize casino dealers, said the ban would ensure a healthier workplace.
“No casino employee should be forced to work in hazardous conditions, and secondhand smoke is a hazardous condition,” Joe Ashton, a UAW director, said in a statement.
Terry Shindel, a dealer at Caesars Atlantic City, said in some cases, pregnant casino employees have been required to work in smoking areas.
“My co-workers are suffering in this environment, and it’s not fair,” Shindel said in a statement issued by the UAW. “Workers in the casinos have been treated as second-class citizens with regard to our health.”
Faced with a ban on lighting up, casino smokers portrayed themselves Thursday as victims of discrimination. They threatened to take their business elsewhere if the smoking ban begins Oct. 15.
“Oct 15th – that’s the day that I’m not coming back to Atlantic City,” complained George Terra, a gambler from Brooklyn, N.Y., who puffed on a cigarette while playing a video poker machine at Trump Plaza.
“They’re going to lose a lot of business here,” said Susan McIntyre, a Caesars customer who lives in Cranford, U nion County. “I won’t go to a place where I can’t smoke. I enjoy smoking when I gamble.”
Another Caesars customer, Martha Campise, of North Wildwood, said her friends have already begun to desert Atlantic City for the new slot parlors in Pennsylvania, where there are no casino smoking restrictions. She said she may soon be joining her friends.
“I’m not angry, but I feel like they are trying to squeeze me out,” Campise said. “I will go somewhere else, where there is smoking.”

Revenue of Atlantic City casinos down 10.6% in September

10/10/2007

Blame for the lower casino revenue is placed on the partial smoking ban and competition from casinos in the neighboring states.

According to a report by the Casino Control Commission, the gambling revenue of the Atlantic City casinos in September of 2007 was 10.6% less than the same month last year. This September the casinos total gaming revenue amounted to $419.3 million, compared with the $468.8 million taken from gamblers in September of 2006. Slot machines were still the most profitable for the Atlantic City casinos, but showed the biggest revenue decline as well – 12.6%. Revenues from table games showed a decline of 5%. From all 11 casinos in Atlantic City, only the two owned by Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., Caesars and Showboat, shoed an increase in gaming revenue of 0.3% and 1.2%.

Experts blame the partial smoking ban and the increased competition from the new casinos in neighboring states, such as Pennsylvania, where the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority is planning to start a $300,000 campaign to attract more locals to the casinos in AC. The Atlantic City casinos, however, are confident that the new plan to turn the oceanside resort into an entertainment destination rivaling Las Vegas are bound to be profitable by bringing in a more wealthy and leisurely segment of gamblers to New Jersey’s casino center.

Poll: Most in NJ Favor Smoke-Free Casino
Nov. 1, 2007
By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press Writer
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — More New Jersey residents would go to Atlantic City casinos if the gambling halls were made totally smoke-free, according to a new poll.
The poll, done by the Monmouth University Polling Institute for a coalition of anti-smoking groups, found that nearly 70 percent of respondents want Atlantic City’s 11 casinos to go totally smoke-free.
A partial ban was enacted in April that bans smoking from at least 75 percent of the casino floor of each gambling house. Casinos are the one major exception to a tough new law New Jersey enacted last year that bans smoking in most public places.
“New Jerseyans have embraced the Smoke-Free Air Act and are now expressing their desire for a 100 percent smoke-free casino destination, as well as the need to protect the casino workers who are currently forced to work in hazardous conditions,” said Dr. George DiFerdinando, chairman of NJBreathes, an anti-smoking group.
But Michael J. McFadden, the Mid-Atlantic director for the Citizens Freedom Alliance, a smoker’s rights group, took issue with the poll, saying it was biased toward nonsmokers.
“If you had a poll run by Philip Morris USA, would you believe the result?” he asked.
The poll was conducted by telephone from Sept. 27-30 among 688 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 3.7 percent. There were 163 smokers included in the poll.
The poll found that 86 percent of respondents consider secondhand smoke to be a health hazard, and that 85 percent agree casino workers should be protected from secondhand smoke inside casinos.
And 83 percent felt that the right of customers and employees to breathe clean air outweighed the right of smokers to light up at casinos. Among smokers, 62 percent of respondents felt that way.
McFadden said that ventilation and air filtration systems _ which many casinos are contemplating to help them comply with the law _ will work just fine.
“There has never yet been a single scientific study that has shown any long term harm to anyone from the low levels of smoke that would be encountered in any decently ventilated modern facility,” he said.
“Should casinos have clean air for their customers? Of course,” he said. “But a casino with a good ventilation system can offer perfectly clean air to any customer or worker in a nonsmoking section, and it can offer air that is perfectly acceptable as safe under federal OSHA standards even to employees working in the middle of a smoking section.”
Joseph Corbo, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, said the current law is the product of many public meetings and deliberations.
“We have said all along we believe that this issue must be considered in a balanced way that takes into consideration economic consequences including our regional competitors in Pennsylvania and Connecticut that do not restrict smoking in their casinos,” he said. “These consequences ultimately impact our businesses, which in turn impact our employees and their families.”
The association had considered a lawsuit to block a total smoking ban, but agreed to the 75-25 compromise in March.
Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of Trump Entertainment Resorts, which operates three casinos here, said he expects special smoking sections to be temporary.
“Obviously it’s only a matter of time before all casinos are smoke-free,” he said Thursday.

Another NJ Casino Floor Bans Smoke

September 13, 2007
By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press Writer

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino will eliminate smoking on its casino floor, bringing to six the number of Atlantic City casinos that will ban smoking while gambling.

No timetable was announced, but other casinos said they expected to the changes to take effect at their own facilities by next spring.

All 11 casinos here must tell the state by Saturday how they intend to comply with a partial smoking ban enacted by the Atlantic City Council in February mandating that at least 75 percent of the casino floor be smoke-free.

The law requires that smoking areas be walled off with ventilation systems to keep smoke from drifting into nonsmoking areas. There is no deadline for the state to approve the plans or for having the enclosures up and running.

So far, six casinos have chosen to create smokers’ lounges where patrons can go to light up. Gambling will not be offered within the lounges, making the casino floor totally smoke-free. Four casinos will offer smoking lounges with gambling and one casino has yet to say what it will do.

Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of Trump Entertainment Resorts, told The Associated Press on Thursday that Trump Plaza will create such a non-gambling smoking lounge. The company’s other two casinos, Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, and Trump Marina Hotel Casino, will create enclosed smoking areas where gambling will still be offered.

The configuration of the building at Trump Plaza made it impractical to offer gambling in the planned smoker’s lounge there, he said.

In addition to Trump Plaza, all four Atlantic City casinos owned by Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. _ Harrah’s Atlantic City, Bally’s Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City and the Showboat Casino-Hotel will also ban smoking while gambling. The Tropicana Casino and Resort will do likewise.

Resorts Atlantic City and the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort also plan to hedge their bets by creating a smoking lounge at each casino, along with one slots area and one table games area at each casino that will be set aside for smokers.

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa has not yet said how it plans to comply with the law.

The City Council in Atlantic City had been set to ban smoking in all the casinos earlier this year, but relented under fierce pressure from the industry, which said it feared losing 20 percent of its revenue and as many as 3,400 jobs if smoking were totally banned.

Hilton, Resorts begin voluntary downsizing program

August 24, 2007
By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Staff Writer, (609) 272-7258

ATLANTIC CITY – Hoping to avoid layoffs, two casinos are offering managers a voluntary termination package amid what their president calls the “most difficult economic times since the inception of casino gaming.”

Lower gaming revenue has pressured the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and sister property Resorts Atlantic City to save money on labor costs, but they want to cut expenses through attrition and the voluntary downsizing program instead of layoffs.

“We have and we will continue to explore every way possible to protect our employees’ jobs during these times,” Anthony Rodio, regional president of Hilton and Resorts, said in a news release Thursday announcing the program.

Employees who take the buyout will receive a week of pay for every year of service, up to a maximum of 26 weeks. They also will be paid for their vacation time and receive company medical benefits through Oct. 31.

The program is for managers, supervisors and senior executives at both casinos. Rank-and-file workers are not affected.

“This generous buyout package is designed for those managers who are already in the mindset of leaving the company, whether it is through a career change, employment elsewhere or retirement,” Rodio said. “By allowing employees to take advantage of this program, we hope to be able to prevent future reductions in staff.”

So far, there have been no layoffs in the management ranks or with frontline workers at either casino, according to Rodio.

At this point, Hilton and Resorts are testing the waters to see how many managers may be willing to leave voluntarily. More than 20 of them have already expressed an interest in the buyouts, but have not yet committed to the program.

“We have no specific number in mind,” Rodio said. “We won’t know whether it’s one or 50 until we go through an evaluation. There is no set dollar amount.”

Hilton and Resorts are owned by affiliates of Colony Capital LLC, a privately held real estate investment group based in Los Angeles headed by billionaire Thomas J. Barrack Jr.

The voluntary downsizing differs dramatically from the aggressive layoffs made by Tropicana Casino and Resort since January under new owner Columbia Sussex Corp. Nearly 750 employees, or about 16 percent of the work force, have been let go by Tropicana, according to the most recent figures compiled by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

Like other casinos in town, Hilton and Resorts have been struggling against extra competition from slot parlors in Pennsylvania and New York and the impact of Atlantic City’s partial smoking ban. Hilton and Resorts estimate the smoking restrictions, blamed for driving away customers, have resulted in combined lost revenue of $1 million per month for both properties.

“The Atlantic City casino industry is facing its most difficult economic times since the inception of casino gaming,” Rodio said.

Gaming revenue industrywide is down nearly 4 percent for the first seven months of the year and appears headed for the first annual decline since casino gambling began here in 1978.

Karen Blumenfeld, policy director for the New Jersey Group Against Smoking Pollution, which has pushed for a total casino smoking ban, disputed Rodio’s assertion that the city’s tobacco restrictions are hurting business. She noted that smoking is still allowed in as much as 25 percent of the gaming space at the 11 casinos in town.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the casinos’ financials have nothing to do with the City Council’s (smoking) ordinance,” Blumenfeld said. “The fact of the matter is that the casinos continue to be smoker-friendly, because smoking is allowed on the gaming floors. That’s the undisputed bottom line.”

Casino workers latest losers in industry’s hard times

August 24, 2007
BY JUDY DeHAVEN, Star-Ledger Staff

Competition from surrounding states and a partial smoking ban has taken a toll on the Atlantic City casinos. And now it’s hitting the workforce.

Resorts and the Hilton, both owned by Colony Capital, confirmed yesterday they were offering buyouts to managers in an effort to avoid layoffs. Employees are being offered one week’s pay for every year of service, with a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of 26 weeks, as well as accrued vacation time and medical benefits through Oct. 31.

The news comes less than a week after the New Jersey Casino Control Commission released second quarter results that showed gross operating profits — a widely watched figure in the industry — plunged 19 percent.

All 11 casinos reported year-over-year declines, but Hilton was hit hardest, with a whopping 44.9 percent drop. At Resorts, gross operating profit fell 15.5 percent.

Net revenue citywide fell 6.1 percent to $1.2 billion.

“The Atlantic City casino industry is facing its most difficult economic times since the inception of casino gaming,” Tony Rodio, Regional President of the Atlantic City Hilton and Resorts Atlantic City, said in a prepared statement. “Increased competition in Pennsylvania, New York, and other nearby states, coupled with the devastating impact of a 75 percent smoking ban in the casino are factors which has the industry on pace for its first-ever year of revenue decline.

“In fact, we estimate that this partial smoking ban has resulted in $1 million in lost revenue per month at Hilton and Resorts combined,” Rodio said.

Throughout the city, casinos have been scaling back, mostly through attrition. But none has come close to the Tropicana, which, according to the Casino Control Commission, has laid off nearly 800 people since a new owner, Columbia Sussex, took control in January.

Rodio said Hilton and Resorts are trying to avoid mass layoffs.

“We have and we will continue to explore every way possible to protect our employees’ jobs during these times,” Rodio said.

“By allowing employees to take advantage of this program, we hope to be able to prevent future reductions in staff.”

Trump calls for repeal of casino smoking ban
By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Staff Writer, (609) 272-7258
Published: Thursday, August 16, 2007
ATLANTIC CITY – Donald Trump wrote to Mayor Bob Levy and City Council President William Marsh on Wednesday calling on the city to repeal a partial casino smoking ban that he claims is scaring away business.
In his two-page letter, Trump said gamblers are fleeing Atlantic City en masse for competing casinos in Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut that don’t have smoking restrictions.
“The negative impact of the city ordinance is even more than the mere loss of a large number of smoking patrons to Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut casinos and the perhaps permanent decline in Atlantic City gaming revenue,” Trump wrote. “It also requires that each casino operator expend millions of dollars to enclose its gaming floor smoking areas with structures which will significantly obstruct the customary flow of gaming patron activity and at the same time look absolutely terrible.”
Atlantic City’s partial ban, which took effect on April 15, limits smoking to no more than 25 percent of the gaming floor at the 11 casinos. Smoking is off-limits in the remaining 75 percent of the gaming space.
Marsh said Wednesday evening he had not yet seen Trump’s letter but noted that the 75-25 smoking compromise was supported by the Casino Association of New Jersey, the gaming industry trade group that includes the three Trump casinos.
“At this point, I think the 75-25 split is very favorable,” Marsh said. “That is something that the Casino Association supported along with the majority of the casinos. So at this point, I don’t know if Mr. Trump has additional information that we don’t have.”
Levy, who also said Wednesday evening he had not yet seen Trump’s letter, stated that it would first be up to City Council to repeal the partial smoking ban. Only then would he have to decide whether to use his mayoral veto power.

Trump wants Atlantic City casino smoking restrictions repealed
August 16, 2007
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – Donald Trump wants Atlantic City to snuff out smoking restrictions in the casinos.
In a two-page letter to Mayor Bob Levy and City Council President William Marsh, Trump says gamblers are fleeing for casinos in Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut that don’t curtail smokers.
In April, the city required casinos to ban smoking on 75 percent of the gaming floor.
Trump says if officials won’t repeal the ban, the ordinance should be suspended until the competing states enact their own smoking rules.
Levy and Marsh tell The Press of Atlantic City they haven’t seen the letter.
Casinos blame the smoking rules and nearby competition for a nearly 4 percent decline in gaming revenue for the first seven months of the year.

Full ban on casino smoking approved by Senate

By PETE McALEER Statehouse Bureau, (609) 292-4935
June 22, 2007

TRENTON — The state Senate voted unanimously Thursday to ban smoking on casino gaming floors, adding pressure on the lower house to follow suit before the end of the year.

The vote came 18 months after the Senate approved a statewide smoking ban that exempted casino gaming floors and cigar bars. State Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, said the original ban unfairly left out the health interests of casino employees.

“Thousands of workers each and every day are exposed to second-hand smoke,” Vitale said. “Why should thousands of casino workers be subject to cancer and emphysema?”

Said co-sponsor Sen. John Adler, D-Camden: “We’re doing the right thing for public health. It’s overdue. A year and a half late, but better late than not at all.”

After the indoor smoking ban passed last year with casino gaming floors exempted, Atlantic City Council approved legislation that banned smoking on 75 percent of gaming floors. Council then revisited that agreement last month, passing a resolution that encouraged the state to adopt a complete ban.
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Atlantic City Councilman Gene Robinson joined anti-smoking advocates in watching Thursday evening’s vote from the balcony of the Senate chambers. He said the current partial ban does not work because it leaves those who work in smoking sessions exposed to even more smoke than before.
“We had people come and testify before us, casino employees, and they talked about how it was worse than it ever was,” Robinson said. “It’s not working. That’s why we’re going to the state and asking them to do something.”

The ban will have to wait until at least after the November election, when the Legislature returns from its break. A bill in the lower house that would ban smoking in casinos, sponsored by Assemblyman Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, has not been posted for a committee vote.

Whelan said he would like to see the current partial ban play out. He said the casino industry is understandably frustrated that the Legislature moved toward a complete ban so quickly after an agreement with Atlantic City Council.

“As I’ve said, I think at some point we’ll see a total smoking ban,” Whelan said. “But the casinos thought they had a deal that would have given them some time. They’re looking at creating separate rooms for smoking. Why would they look to create separate rooms when there might be a complete smoking ban the next day? When you’re talking about trying to attract billions of dollars, you can’t be a yo-yo.”

Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, said the economic effects of the ban need to be studied, particularly at a time when casinos are fighting against competition from out of the state.

“I believe we have to, for the time being, cool our jets and evaluate what’s going on in the industry,” Van Drew said. “We need to evaluate it and make sure we’re stable again. If business decreases enough, people are going to lose their jobs.”

Casino Association of New Jersey President Joe Corbo said before the vote that the state’s original ban took into consideration the potential loss of tax revenue and jobs. He said the casino industry made plans to comply with Atlantic City Council’s ordinance, which provided a transition period for customers who smoke.

Members of New Jersey GASP, which fought for the original smoking ban, said they are hopeful the Assembly will vote to add casinos when they return in November. Asked if the smoking ban might become an issue in the upcoming 2nd District Legislative races, New Jersey GASP attorney Karen Blumenfeld answered, “Possibly. Plenty of casino workers reside in Atlantic County.”

Also pushing to add casinos to the smoking ban is the American Cancer Society.

“People travel from far and wide to visit Atlantic City for two reasons — to enjoy the wonderment of a seashore resort and to relish in the gambling and entertainment offered by the casinos,” said the organization’s vice president, Frank Mascia. “Smoking is not a tourist attraction. We ask the Assembly to remember this as they consider their stand.”
To e-mail Pete McAleer at The Press: PMcAleer@pressofac.com

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