CEASE Smoking in Casinos for the Sake of Working People

By Guy Citron 

When PJ Nacarelli told me his story, I was moved to tears. For decades he has been dealing cards at an Atlantic City casino. In return for his hard work, the State of New Jersey is treating him like trash.

You see, PJ is forced to work in a smoking environment. Worse, he endures smokers at his card table, blowing smoke directly into his face, all throughout his shift.

Shockingly, his employers suggested it would be “ignorant” of him to ask the players to blow their smoke away from him. Ignorant of what I have no idea.

Apparently, casino executives believe that profit will be harmed if smokers are asked to take it outside. But consider the CEOs who own shares worth tens of millions of dollars – on top of whatever generous salary they are getting. I have a powerful imagination, yet it’s hard to imagine those executives are just scraping by to the degree that they need to leverage PJ’s health, and ability to care for his family. But perhaps more objectively, their argument is false, and the Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects [CEASE] have research to prove it.

For starters, the states of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, and Maryland all require casinos to be 100 percent smoke free indoors, and are making money hand-over-fist for shareholders. Pennsylvania’s highest-grossing casino, Parx, is also smokefree.

Voluntarily. Because it has been so good for business. In fact, C3 Gaming, a “casino consultants consortium” with locations worldwide, suggests that smoke free casinos outperform those that allow smoking on a global scale. This is not hard to believe as smoking rates continue to decline.

But fundamentally, this issue is about common sense and basic respect. In Atlantic City, and nationwide, casino workers should be entitled to safe working conditions. I mean, just consider the workers who are pregnant. The concentrations of secondhand smoke put their babies at a higher risk for CIDs, lower birth weight, preterm delivery, as well as a host of other developmental problems.

But the casino industry is a massive, somewhat inescapable, and important job provider in places like South Jersey. Ironically, many rely on the poor working conditions for health insurance.
PJ’s family, and many like them, must accept that unfair trade to survive. That sounds less like a career and more like a hostage situation. But it does not have to be that way.

PJ’s job could and should be able to put food on the table for his lovely family with dignity. The only thing in the way are a few bullies who are literally putting cancerous profits before people.

My running-mate Tyler Powell and I vow to fight these unfair conditions, alongside CEASE, and our friend PJ, to mandate smoke free casinos through the state legislation the casino workers are fighting for.

Tyler and I do not come from connections, or ego. We got into politics because we care about PJ, his family, and people like you.

Give us a chance to prove it. And hold us to account. Consider supporting the campaign today by checking out:www.LD23dems.com.

Guy Citron is a Democratic Assembly candidate in the 23rd District.