Atlantic City Smoking Ban to Cost 2,500 Casino Jobs

Categories: America, News | Published by: Dave Thomas | 27 Feb 2022

As initiatives to ban smoking in Atlantic City casinos emerge, a new report claims that smoking bans could result in up to 2,500 people losing their casino jobs. The report compiled by Spectrum Gaming Group, an independent research firm, states that Atlantic City casinos would also lose 11% of their revenue.

As soon as the report was released, a group of smoking opponents, as well as some casino workers, said that the report prioritized profits of casinos over the health of players and people working in casinos. People supporting the ban claimed that the report only gave the numbers for the first year after such a ban would be implemented but didn’t say what would happen once gamblers get used to it.

Smokers Spend and Lose More

The report was commissioned by the Casino Association of New Jersey after governor Phil Murphy said that if a smoking ban bill was passed he would sign it and turn the ban into law.

According to the report, 21% of casino players are smokers in Atlantic City. Interestingly, it also determined that these gamblers were more valuable to Atlantic City casinos as they lost more money while gambling and were spending more money on things not related to gambling.

Atlantic City Casinos are Still Reeling

Joe Lupo, the president of both Hard Rock casino and the casino association that commissioned the report, said that Atlantic City faced “very dire issues.” Lupo claimed that both employment and casino visits were at their lowest and that the last time the numbers were that low was more than twenty years ago.

He also said that Atlantic City casinos still haven’t bounced back from COVID-19. He pointed to the fact that, in 2021, in-person gambling revenue was down 5% compared to 2019. According to Lupo, enacting a smoking ban now would be devastating to both the community and the state.

New Jersey Would Lose Up to 44% of Tax Revenue

In 2008, Atlantic City casinos banned smoking for almost a month. However, after only a week of the ban being introduced, casino winnings went down by 19.5%, so casinos restored smoking to the current level of 25%.

According to the report Spectrum prepared, Atlantic City casinos would have to close between 1,021 and 2,512 jobs. The gambling research firm estimated that a casino needed US$155,008 in gambling revenue to support one job.

The report also says that if a smoking ban bill was to be passed and signed into law, non-gambling revenue would also be affected and would fall by as much as US$93 million, which is a 6.5% drop. The state of New Jersey would also feel the effects of the ban as it would be deprived of up to 44% of tax revenue.

Smokers Could Turn to Online Casinos

Even though the report found that there would be non-smoking players that would be attracted to casinos if a smoking ban was implemented, they would not offset the losses caused by casinos losing patrons that smoke.

Spectrum’s report found that not all smokers would abstain from casinos and that 13% would continue to visit them. It also determined that a lot of smokers would switch over to online casinos which are also legal in New Jersey.