“We have to endure hours on the job with secondhand smoke in our faces without the ability to turn away,” added Nicole Vitola, another Borgata dealer active in the anti-smoking effort.
“It’s incredible that we’re here begging again to have the same thing everyone else has,” said Lamont White, a dealer at the Borgata and a leader of the drive to end smoking in Atlantic City’s nine casinos. That infuriated over 100 casino workers who packed a hearing room in the state Capitol, convinced that after nearly three years, their state representatives were ready to start the smoking ban on its way to approval. They also said they would listen to alternatives proposed by the casino industry including enclosed smoking rooms in which no employee would be forced to work. A bill to end smoking in Atlantic City’s casinos that appeared headed for its first vote Thursday was delayed yet again when Democratic lawmakers said they did not have enough votes to advance it.
