Atlantic City Casinos and Smoking

Borgata is opposed to the City Council Ordinance, which will ban smoking on casino floors in Atlantic City. Borgata believes that there needs to be some balance brought to the Smoking Ban issue.  We believe that serious consideration of the adverse ramifications that the imposition of a smoking ban will have upon our industry, our employees, our regional and statewide economies, needs to occur before taking the drastic measure of banning smoking from our casinos. First this is a competitive issue. Our nearby competitors, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut all permit smoking on their casino floors. This negatively changes the playing field in a competitive market.

Second, Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) estimated that NJ casinos would lose significant revenues if a smoking ban were imposed, similar to the 20% loss that Delaware casinos suffered when a smoking ban was instituted. This would result in a loss of $93M in gaming tax revenues that benefit NJ’s disabled and senior citizens via a prescription drug program. Third, PWC estimated that 3400 employees would be laid off as a result of the decrease in business volumes. This is one of the reasons that Local 54, the union that represents the welfare of approximately 25,000 of our industry’s employees, is opposed to the smoking ban on our casino floors.

The casino industry in Atlantic City has experienced significant growth in the past several years, and is poised to continue to grow. To the extent that a smoking ban impacts revenues, it also negatively impacts future growth opportunities, job creation, tax revenues and all of the other significant economic development benefits that are generated by that growth. For all these reasons, Borgata believes that balance needs to be brought to this issue by taking into consideration the above significant concerns in a thoughtful process, without the rush to judgment.