If you thought irony was dead …

… go to Atlantic City. Casino operators are patting themselves on the back for raising awareness of breast cancer this month. If they really cared, they’d ban smoking on their gambling floors. After all, what says “careless risk” like dealers having carcinogens blown in their faces? Rather than ‘promote early awareness’ of breast cancer, why not stop it before it starts? But no, dead employees are part of ‘the cost of doing business’ for Big Gaming and the latter will pay lip service for fighting cancer, so long as no real and meaningful action has to be taken.

Columbia Sussex retread and Resorts Atlantic City prexy Mark Giannantonio actually had the nerve to mewl, “Every year the casino industry comes together to support a cause that is so near and dear to our hearts.” Yes, so near and dear that they don’t do the one thing that might make a real difference. That’d make a helluva a lot more impact than switching the lighting to pink during October.

On a related note, a casino in West Virginia wants to throw its employees and nonsmoking customers under the bus, all in the name of making a few more dollars. One, 150-device, slot lounge would be sacrificed to smokers by Mardi Gras Casino & Resort, with the meaningless assurance (read: bullshit) that “high quality” ventilation will solve the problem. Casino owner Delaware North is doubtless emboldened by the fact that its Wheeling Island Hotel, Casino & Racetrack is pustulent with smoke. Regulations on clean air, y’see, vary from county to county in West Virginia.

Delaware North’s tired, old wheeze is that casino manqué Sandy’s Racing & Gaming, across the border in Kentucky, permits smoking, so what’s sauce for the bluegrass goose ought to be sauce for the Appalachian gander. Admittedly, West Virginians are some of the most tobacco-addicted Americans, with a 21% prevalence rate. As West Virginia Watch dryly notes, “The state has among the highest rates in the country for cancer deaths. Many of the state’s other leading causes of death are also health conditions caused by smoking.” So by all means, let’s help more customers speed their way to an early demise. There’s a word for what Delaware North is doing and that word is “irresponsible.”

Back on the Boardwalk, a preview screening of Joker: Folie a Deux was presented at Ocean Casino Resort. The early reaction was as follows, “It was a bizarre film about mental illness blended with a musical theme.” Said our critic’s wife, “I can’t believe we’re watching this shit.” At least Ocean laid on the amenities, in the form of complimentary Joker face paintings, free popcorn and free candy. Spendid. Now if only other A.C. casinos would take up Ocean’s idea of showing movies …

We can vouch for the fact that Delaware is a beautiful state. But how are its casinos? Our East Coast correspondent was evidently seized by similar curiosity. He tried Bally’s Dover and found that it “was like being inside a refrigerator. It was icy cold, totally uncomfortable.” Throw in a low ceiling and “plain vanilla” decor, and the experience was pretty underwhelming. Explains our reporter, “Both the casino and our room have never seen any renovation. Did Bally’s ‘muck up’ Dover Downs? Of course they did. They added their ‘pseudo’ Italian restaurant Longo’s Meatball & Martini. For a later checkout, the charge is only $25 per hour. The valet parking permanently closed last February.” Bally’s is in danger of ousting Caesars Entertainment as the company where the customer almost matters.

A slightly more positive reaction went to Harrington Casino, 30 minutes outside Dover. Our man applauded its vaulted ceiling, “which makes the casino interior interesting.” Unfortunately for patrons, neither Harrington nor Bally’s sprang for a parking garage, which made for a soggy experience as the remnants of Hurricane Helene spumed through.

Jottings: Light & Wonder has been whistling past the graveyard of its Dragon Train game, which Nevada District Court Judge Gloria Navarro enjoined from deployment, citing a suspect amount of correlation with Aristocrat Technologies intellectual property. L&W had set great hopes upon Dragon Train and we hear that a corporate bloodletting is taking place. First to go was an unnamed (but evidently scapegoated) game designer … Truist Securities analyst Barry Jonas was wowed by his visit to Churchill Downs HQ. No wonder, as the company has quite a few irons in the fire … Big Gaming scored a major win in a New Jersey courtroom when a federal judge dismissed with prejudice a class-action suit alleging collusion to rig room rates in Atlantic City. The casino companies in question had used shared AI software to set suspiciously congruent prices … Pacifica casino in Macao is no more, having become Londoner Casino, all part of a big-ass rebrand of what used to be the ultra-blah Sands Cotai Central (a name that doesn’t immediately connote “fun”). The revamped casino opened just in time for the all-important Golden Week holiday in China … In an effort to prop up a struggling endeavor, Hollywood Toledo has opened an ESPN Bet-branded sports book. The book is light on in-person service, boasting only three teller windows against 19 kiosks, 13 slots and 40 HDTV sets … Things are rolling along nicely for Hard Rock Hotel & Tejon Casino, which should top off shortly. Perhaps Bakersfield‘s own Kevin McCarthy (remember him?) can get a job as a greeter … It only took a decade (and a lot of fines) but Penn Entertainment is finally getting around to building a hotel to accompany its Kansas Speedway casino. Were Penn not facing license renewal, we’re skeptical it would have offered to erect the 125-room domicile, which should be ready in two years.