The state’s casino industry recently had an opportunity to reaffirm its policy that smoking is great for business in Atlantic City. The 45-year-old premise is that the dopamine boost keeps nicotine-sucking gamblers at the slots and tables longer, and if that results in casino employees and other gamblers getting cancer from the toxic particles hovering around them, well, life’s a gamble.
Nobody from the Casino Association or any of AC’s nine casinos showed up at Monday’s Senate Health Committee hearing. Instead, the industry was represented by a few employees who expressed fear about jobs being imperiled by a smoking ban, even though there is no data to support that.
