Study Blasts Quality of New Jersey Casinos, Ties It to Smoking

New Jersey dot com has released a quality of air study which focused on specific venues, and namely Atlantic City’s casino floors.

The conclusions are not reassuring, argues Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, an NGO that has been a vociferous critic of the legal loophole that exempts casinos from banning indoor smoking on their gaming floors.

Indoor Smoking Leads to Hazardous Breathing Air in AC’s Casinos

The NGO has used the findings of NJ.com to exemplify that claims of running “state-of-the-art” air filtration systems may be exaggerated by casinos and do not accurately depict the realities.

In fact, argues the organization, HVAC systems cannot solve the outstanding issue – i.e., secondhand smoke.

“The finding that casinos that permit indoor smoking pose dire health risks to patrons and workers is not new,” the organization said, drawing from the survey’s findings.

“Yet, even with years of evidence, the casino industry continues to promote the narrative that transitioning to smokefree will drive away business — a theory that has been proven false by the success of nearby smokefree Parx casino — and prioritizes short-term revenue over public health,” a statement issued by the NGO is alarmed.

The organization cited a pulmonary toxicology expert at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Terry Gordon, who confirmed that air pollution, and especially that caused by secondhand smoke, has a severe impact on people’s health.

More Evidence to Exemplify the Harms of Indoor Smoking

“It’s clear they are going to be inhaling nicotine and carbon monoxide at that level,’ he observed. Their bodies will show biomarkers — evidence in their blood or tissues — of that exposure, he said. At the same time, he noted the casino population is unique and probably includes more susceptible people than a typical workplace, so more concern,” the specialist explained.

There have been widespread calls for banning smoking on casino floors, but those have mostly faltered despite the outward support from high-ranking state officials in New Jersey in particular. Casinos, for their part, have argued that the business has not quite recovered from the pandemic to forge ahead with such changes.

Critics have rebuffed those statements, arguing that there is no credible data to demonstrate that banning indoor smoking in casinos would actually lead to a downturn in revenue.