Atlantic City’s Dealers Who Have Cancer Urge for Smoking Ban

Speaking to one such person, Tammy Brady, the Associated Press found out that the dealer, who started working at the age of 18, had stage 2 breast cancer right now. Brady is 55. The Borgata casino worker did not outright blame in-door smoking on the casino floor, but she did say that there was a lingering doubt whether her job didn’t make her sick – and if it wasn’t an avoidable condition after all.

Associated Press Interviews Cancer Patients who Work in Casinos

Holly Diebler, a craps dealer at Tropicana, is another sufferer, who is currently battling throat cancer. Diebler is confident she wants to keep her job, and doesn’t want to leave it – but once again, there is doubt that it’s the job and the conditions at casino tables that could have made her sick. Banning smoking on casino floors has been a hot-button topic with a bill already pitched, and Gov. Phil Murphy all hawkish on signing it – yet no bill has been pushed through legislation even though lawmakers have vowed to make sure they will see this piece through.

Casinos have objected repeatedly, arguing that ending the exception in the 2006’s indoor smoking ban would only suppress their results. They urged lawmakers to see reason and understand that improving bottom lines were not necessarily a sign of stability as casinos also have to pay a lot to third parties that run online operations, for example.

Yet, critics of this opposition have said that there is little evidence to suggest that casinos would be losing money by banning indoor smoking. Pennsylvania already does it in many of the casinos, and it’s unlikely that New Jersey and Atlantic City will see fewer visitors because people cannot light up while they play. Casinos can introduce dedicated areas where people can smoke.

Arguments Fly in Both Directions

Former Assemblyman Don Guardian was also critical of the issue when speaking to the Associated Press. He noted that he didn’t seek to impose a ban on smoking per se, but rather wanted to take people’s “right to kill others by smoking in a casino.” The argument that there will be a downturn in financial performance also seems patchy, says C3 Gaming, a consultancy.

Casinos that have banned smoking in Maryland and Washington DC seem to be doing well the company says. Meanwhile, critics of the smoking ban say that revenue would fall by 10% and at least one casino is bound to go out of business. Yet, as Janice Green, a dealer at the Tropicana said when speaking to the media, there is nothing wrong in shutting down smoking or asking smokers to smoke in dedicated areas.

It would embarrass the customer, some say, but Green wonders – what is embarrassing about being killed by customers, and how are the two things comparable.