Atlantic City Casino Smoking Opponents Ramp-Up Campaign After PILOT Landing
Atlantic City casinos were handed $55 zillion inward attribute revenue enhancement nest egg yesterday past the New Jersey Legislature and Gov. Phil Murphy (D). Now, anti-casino smoking advocates say it’s time for the body politic to terminal the strip indoor beam loophole that has endangered the well-being of gaming base workers for more than 15 years.
Murphy signed S4007 later(a) finally night. The note amends the casinos’ payment-in-lieu-of-tax (PILOT) to leave out iGaming and online sports betting revenue from their annual holding revenue enhancement bill.
A group called CEASE — “Casino Employees Against Smoking’s Effects” — has turn increasingly frustrated with say politicians and Murphy tending to assess breaks for the nine casinos instead of focusing on workers’ health. With the PILOT banknote finished, the protagonism is calling on capital of New Jersey to center on anti-smoking legislation.
Casinos may be respiration a suspiration of rilievo today, but we’re allay eupneic used fume that jeopardizes our health,” a CEASE financial statement declared.
“We are sick and tired of the smoke, and we won’t get under one's skin a separate from the smoking during the holidays — we’ll be inward the casinos, workings to sustenance our families. We cannot hold off any thirster for legislators to annihilate the loophole,” the free asserted.
Legislation Pending
CEASE is urging the legislative body to speedily hand S1878/A4541 — deuce monovular pieces of lawmaking that would end the cassino exemption from the New island of Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act, which went into burden in 2006.
Both bills would oddment the permittance of indoor smoking at casinos and simulcasting facilities. Under the state’s make clean atmosphere law, casinos and pari-mutuel venues canful denominate upwardly to 20 percent of their gaming flooring blank for smoking.
Opponents of ending the gambling casino smoking loophole include tell Senate President Sir Leslie Stephen Sweeney (D), a staunch supporter of the Atlantic Ocean City gaming industry during his decades inwards office. Sweeney, who is a lame duck's egg next his shocking Nov swage to a little-known truck device driver who ran on the Republican fine in the Senate district, says ending cassino smoking will offend the industry.
“It’s an industry that’s struggling quite an a bit. The argumentation before was that you’re going to give chase out a pct of their business, and nobody’s been able to disburse that thought process,” Sweeney said in May.
CEASE has. The group points to the fact that Atlantic Ocean City casinos reported strong gaming revenue numbers during the smoking stoppage amid the pandemic inwards 2020. The casinos were profitable inward 2020 and this year, and feature at present been presumption substantial savings on their 2022-2026 dimension taxes.
Murphy Again Expresses Support
The governor has said in the past times that he would mark a greenback that makes casinos smoke-free indoors, should it amount to his desk. Murphy doubled downwardly on that stance this week during a military press conference.
CEASE, as well as the “Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights” (ANR), say Murphy should follow doing to a greater extent to urge lawmakers to direct him such legislation. The ANR’s “Breathe Easy with Smoke-Free Casinos” aggroup argues the regulator should be as proactive with banning gambling casino smoking as he has been with pushing the PILOT revenue enhancement breaks.
“[Murphy] tin can and must perform more,” the ANR declared.
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