Casino smoking ban hearing set
By WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC
Courier Post Staff
ATLANTIC CITY - Sharon Carfagno earns a living serving drinks on the casino floor at Harrah's.
She depends on tips from gamblers, so she had second thoughts about a push to ban smoking on the casino floor.
''Smoking, drinking and gambling go together,'' Carfagno said after an information session Tuesday in support of a city ordinance which would extend the state smoking ban to casino floors.
On Wednesday, city council holds the first of two public hearings on the ordinance. The other will be Dec. 13.
After passage of the New Jersey Indoor Clean Air Act earlier this year exempted the casino floor, visitors to hotels would congregate on the gaming floor to light up.
''I can feel the difference at the end of the day. I experience a tightness in my chest,'' said 47-year-old Carfagno, a 26-year industry veteran.
Moreover, a non-smoking friend who also works in the industry failed a blood test for nicotine during a routine life insurance policy examination. ''That really scared me," Carfagno said. "How bad is the air in the casinos? I want to be alive for my kids' weddings.''
Council will take a final vote on the ordinance Dec. 29. Since the ordinance passed 9-0 on first reading, it seems a sure bet it will pass then.
The Casino Association of New Jersey will not have anyone testifying at Wednesday's hearing, said Joseph Corbo, association president.
Still, the industry opposes this bill. The association, which represents Atlantic City's largest employer and taxpayer, cited a November 2005 PriceWaterhouseCoopers study commissioned by the group; Local 54, which represents many casino and hotel workers; and the local Chamber of Commerce.
The study, based on comparisons in other jurisdictions where smoking was banned on casino floors, said gaming revenue would decline 20 percent, resulting in a loss of $93 million in tax revenues to the state over two years and a reduction in staff of 3,300.
''For City Council to take the action it did without any consideration of its financial impact on the residents of Atlantic City and the future growth of this industry was irresponsible,'' the association said.
''I am concerned about the economic health of the casino industry,'' said Assemblyman James Whelan, D-Atlantic City, a former Atlantic City mayor who introduced legislation to extend the ban to the gaming floors. ''Gaming is the economic engine of South Jersey. You can't pretend it won't happen. . . . I don't know how long the dip will be or how much it will cost, but it won't be as dire as casinos say. And it will be temporary and will be more than made up.''
City Councilman G. Bruce Ward, the primary sponsor of the ordinance, championed the cause during his recent re-election campaign.
He attended a smoke-free rally at a restaurant in his district.
''I became inspired by the cause,'' he said. ''I thought if we had the power to regulate building in the city, don't we have the power to ban smoking?''
It was Ward who discovered the Clean Air Act allowed local governments to enact more stringent laws than the state.
The way gaming companies can counteract the negatives is to constantly make the product better, Whelan said.
''The casinos can't see the customers who do not come because of the smoking,'' said Regina Carlson, executive director of New Jersey GASP, an anti-smoking group.
Make casinos more appealing in other ways, Carfagno said. Many of the poker rooms in town prohibit smoking and business is booming, she said.
Jack Caffrey, 64, of Bedminster, visits Atlantic City a couple times a month. A non-smoker, Caffrey says it's difficult to find a non-smoking table, so he doesn't stick around as long as he'd like. And when he walks off the casino floor he feels a great weight lifted.
''I feel a lot better than I do in the casino,'' he said. ''I'd stay longer if there were no smoking.'' |
