Donald Trump, who is probably the most visible casino personality in Atlantic City today, recently made comments related to the smoking ban.
On April 15th of this year the casinos were required to reduce their smoking permitted gambling floor space to no more than 25 percent of the total.
This requirement was actually passed by the Atlantic City Council. Bills to end the casino exclusion to a smoking ban have been hung up in the state assembly and it was left to the city government to make a move to protect the employees from the hazards of second hand smoke.
Trump wrote a letter to Mayor Bob Levy and City Council President Bill Marsh stating the New Jersey casino industry was being hurt with smokers going to other jurisdictions where there are no restrictions on smoking such as Pennsylvania and New York.
The split was actually approved by the casino association, who lobbied against a complete ban saying over 3,000 industry jobs would be lost and industry loss in revenue would be as much as 20 percent of total revenue.
Perhaps Donald Trump seeks to have the smoking ban overturned because of upcoming costs. By September 15th of this year the casinos are required to submit plans for “smoking rooms” with enclosed ventilation systems. Once plans are approved the casinos must move quickly to build these separate casinos within a casino.
Trump’s properties have been struggling financially to compete against the upgrades being done by the other properties. To build these “smokeboxes” or “chokeboxes” is not going to be cheap and for instance, in the case of the Taj Mahal’s interior architecture, will be fairly difficult to implement and still maintain the esthetics of the property. The building cost will not immediately return a benefit as in the case of a new hotel tower or restaurant
Several anti smoking groups which are still lobbying the state and city council to make the exclusion 100 percent are opposed to Trump’s recent initiatives.
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