Light Up One Ciggy
Posted on October 9, 2008 - Filed Under Gambling Law News
Loosen your tie, slide a bit forward, throw your back, lean against the backrest, stretch the spring to its maximum, rock the chair slowly and light a cigarette, the ban on smoking has been temporally revoked in Atlantic City.
Due to the smoking ban in various cities of the United States, the footfalls in casinos are facing a steep decline. Even the average time spent in a casino is on a downward slope.
The cash flow is running dry and the US casinos are chopping heads (Read the complete story) and Atlantic City is not an exception. The current economic depression is costing many jobs.
A divided Atlantic City Council had to choose from a loaf of bread and the lung cancer. And five out of nine council members voted in favour of providing loaves of bread to casinos’ employees against four in favour of preventing the lung cancer.
The council chamber was jam-packed with supporters from both sides and this declaration made one segment (of the audience) silent while other went exhilarating.
The tension among the two opposing groups was quite high since the beginning and it climaxed once the delay on smoking-ban was prescribed. Some members of the United Auto Workers union were found engaged in a brawl with Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of UNITE-HERE.
McDevitt was instrumental in delaying this ban. He was representing the casino workers who are facing the axe because of the falling profitability of casinos in Atlantic City.
Two CEOs Larry Mullin (Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa) and Mark Juliano (Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.) were there to put forward their case in support of delaying the implementation of smoking-ban.
This ordinance will be subjected to a final vote which will take place in two weeks time. Though the ban has been lifted for one year only, it will help the Atlantic City casinos in regaining their lost weights.
This battle is already being fought for more than two years and this voting has just added another chapter to it.
Ban or no ban? The final call has yet to be taken and both interested parties are waiting for the final round of the hearing.
