New Jersey-based group lauds Connecticut casinos' continued ban on smoking
Aug. 9—An Atlantic City, N.J.-based group seeking to permanently ban smoking in casinos has nothing but praise for management at Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino, which have remained smoke-free in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CEASE, which stands for Casino Employees Against Smoking's Effects, issued a statement Tuesday in response to an article online and in The Day in which the southeastern Connecticut casinos' top executives dismissed an industry analyst's suggestion that their no-smoking policies had something to do with a slight dip in slot-machine revenues in the 2023 fiscal year that ended June 30.
Spectrum Gaming Group raised the question in considering the impact of Connecticut's October 2021 legalization of online gaming on traffic at the casinos. Spectrum noted the casinos' combined slot "win" ― the wagers they kept after paying out prizes ― fell to $848 million in the 12 months that ended in June, a 1.5% decline over the $861 million they kept the previous 12 months.
Gross gaming revenue from online gaming nearly doubled in the same period.
Spectrum said it believed "the decisions of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun to remain smokefree after the pandemic reopenings may have encouraged casino players who smoke to try digital gaming."
Jeff Hamilton, Mohegan Sun's president and general manager, and Jason Guyot, Foxwoods' president and chief executive officer, both expressed doubts about the notion that the continuation of smoking bans harmed business at their brick-and-mortar facilities. Both casinos, like many across the country, put smoking bans in place when they reopened after closing for a time due to the pandemic.
"We've seen report after report bought and paid for by some in the gaming industry that have no basis in fact ― and this recent claim about casinos in Connecticut is now being shot down by Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods," CEASE said in its statement. "We applaud these two casinos for making the decision many months ago to protect employees and guests from dangerous secondhand smoke. The old conventional wisdom about smoking in casinos no longer applies, and we're seeing example after example of this new reality playing out across the country."
"And here in Atlantic City," CEASE continued, "we are close to making a major change ― closing the casino smoking loophole ― that will protect our health while also inviting potential customers into casinos because the smoking is gone."
The group, which says its membership includes thousands of casino dealers and other frontline gaming workers, also has chapters in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Kansas and Virginia.
Neither the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe nor the Mohegan Tribe, respective owners of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, have taken any action regarding permanent smoking bans. During contract negotiations concluded earlier this year, Foxwoods management declined to agree to a permanent ban proposed by Local 2121 of the United Auto Workers, which represents the casino's dealers, a union official said at the time.
In New Jersey, a state law enacted in 2006 prohibited smoking in all workplaces except casinos.
Temporarily banned when Atlantic City casinos reopened after pandemic-induced shutdowns, smoking was reinstated on July 4, 2021 and is allowed on 25% of each casino's gaming floor. CEASE's push for legislation extending the workplace ban to casinos has gained traction in recent legislative sessions, and the group is expected to continue its lobbying efforts in the fall.
