Killing Them Softly

Casinos, with connivance of government, are getting away with murder in Atlantic City (and possibly elsewhere). A study by NJ Advance Media found “hazardous” (per Environmental Protection Agency benchmarks) levels of second-hand smoke in two Atlantic City casinos, which it did not name. Seven others had “unhealthy” concentrations of smoke … this included nonsmoking areas! The technical methodology has been shared.

A large part of the problem is a lack of political willpower in Trenton. Support for smokeless casinos is there but lawmakers and feckless Gov. Phil Murphy (D) live in terror of the Casino Association of New Jersey. So they look the other way while workers and customers are exposed to poison. Gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill (D, below), currently in the lead, is nonsmokers’ best hope, her opponent being a wishy-washy tool of Big Business. Even so, a lot of legislative butt needs to be kicked if smoking is ever to be banished from Boardwalk gambling halls.

Big Gaming is morally bankrupt on his issue. Its default position is that (in effect) dead bodies are a small price to pay for keeping nine casinos in business. The industry leans heavily on a Spectrum Gaming Group report that used 17-year-old data to prop up the smoke-is-good-for-business contention. A study by C3 Group, using post-Covid data, took the opposite stance. And, as plaintiffs’ attorney Nancy Erika Smith pointed out, “Five of the nine New Jersey casinos are seeking licenses in New York, which is smoke-free. So they obviously know smoke-free is profitable.” Indeed there hasn’t been any whining in the Empire State about needing smoking to survive—and those casinos will be much costlier to build and run than the aging Atlantic City ones.

Speaking of age, nothing depreciates a casino property quite like the ash and tar buildup of years of smoking. If Big Gaming were really concerned about the bottom line and keeping its Boardwalk properties competitive, smokers would be shown the door. But there’s a high comorbidity correlation (as veteran exec Richard Schuetz likes to point out) between disordered gambling and smoking. The industry is basically betting on a small group of degenerate, nicotine-addicted gamblers to keep Atlantic City going. That’s perverse, at best.

So far the MSM is burying the NJ Advance study, which is unforgivable. We hope it gets traction, both for the sake of igniting a national debate and, more practically, lighting a fire under Garden State solons. They’ve got very dirty air on their consciences, if they have any.

Up the road, in fair New York City, the sledding has gotten rough—not that it was ever smooth—for The Coney. Actual fisticuffs broke out, tempers were so high at a public-comment session. Pro-casino speakers (25) were vastly outnumbered by the antis (85). Police had to intervene at times, leading one opponent to proclaim, “This should have ended for you the moment that violence erupted. Because that’s what you’re bringing. You’re bringing anger, you’re bringing people who are so thirsty for jobs they’re getting violent with people.” They were also alleged to be getting paid $80 a head to slurp The Coney.

The latest ploy by main backer Thor Equities was a sucker bet: Offering shares of the project to the general public. It sounds good on paper but the devil is in the fine print. It’s a stratagem that Bally’s Corp. has employed in Chicago (with apparently little success) and again in the Bronx, and Caesars Entertainment just rolled it out to ease opposition to its Times Square casino project.

Offering equity is a Hail Mary pass to get The Coney past the Community Advisory Committee and before the Lege. Even so, its prospects look dim, especially after Thor et. al. confessed that 91% of the jobs would go to people from outside Coney Island. Not only has Thor so far failed to develop property it owns in the immediate area, a Manhattan parcel it has is headed for foreclosure. Not a glowing recommendation. Thor’s Joe Sitt needs to be sent packing, but it’s anybody’s game in the Big Apple.

Jay-Z, Supervillain? While in the vicinity of Manhattan, one should note that it’s a community that is inconceivable without mass transit. So it makes perfect sense—Not!—that SL Green and Caesars Entertainment have been pushing to remove three-year-old, 19-foot-wide sidewalks and a dedicated bus lane from Times Square for the sake of a Roc Nation-branded casino. Why? So more cars can get to the gambling. This is a bad idea on so many levels, we don’t know where to start. It will only increase congestion on island (one of opponents’ biggest bogeyman), not to mention upping pollution and a glut of single-passenger vehicles that Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has been trying to stem. Nor does it bode well for foot-traffic or safety. Greed and shortsightedness, we always like to say, are opposite sides of the same coin and this is a perfect case in point.

This fuck-you to the community is about what we’d expect from out-of-touch Caesars and too-big-to-care SL Green. But it certainly flies in the face of all the ‘rah, rah, sis boom bah’ talk that we’ve been hearing from Jay-Z Carter, the public face of the project. It doesn’t even make sense, given that SL Green figures three-fourths of gamblers will be coming on foot or via public transit. As with smoking (see above), the many are being inconvenienced for the sake of an entitled few. Even though SL Green is now walking back its opposition to the bus lane, anyone who’s been to Times Square at peak hours (as we have, many, many times) will grasp the Green/Caesars insanity at a glance.

If it’s any relief, Caesars Times Square (or whatever it will be called) is also facing an uphill battle, polling at a mere 24% support vs. 67% against. The diss of public transit doesn’t seem to be helping the cause. To bail out the project, Jay-Z & Co. have called upon the Rev. Al Sharpton. Starting with Tawana Brawley, Rev. Al has backed no shortage of dubious causes and this is no exception (although from Brawley’s side to Caesars’ bosom is quite the ideological leap). Sharpton’s central argument is an abstract one: that Times Square needs more diversity in its business makeup. Unfortunately, Steve Green and Tom Reeg make poor standard-bearers for civil rights.

More telling was the case put forward by a former Las Vegan, actor Saum Eskandani. He pointed out that casinos were coexsting happily with theatre in the West End of London. Mind you, British casinos are much smaller than American ones and offer fewer diversions. That being said, he added, “the two most vibrant, prosperous places to be employed are Times Square and Las Vegas Boulevard.” Point taken. We like the Times Square casino’s chances in Albany better than The Coney’s but it’s a real lightning rod just the same.

Finally, a shout-out to a frequent S&G whipping boy, Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill. He’s speaking to truth to power, having been hit where it hurts: tourism. Mexican tourism, in particular. Hill was sufficiently vexed by the White House‘s xenophobic, $250/head “integrity fee” on visas to hit back. You’d think the administration in Washington, D.C. would just as soon hang a big “Fuck off!” sign at every port of entry to the United States, so bizarrely hostile has it been to overseas tourism.

Hill made some commonsense arguments against this State Department jihad, saying, “If you’ve got a family of four and you want to get a visa to come the United States, and it costs you about $1,150, that’s reason enough for a lot of families not to come. On top of that, it takes a long time to clear the visa process in those non-waiver countries. Mexico is one of those. I think that policy really ought to be rethought, because I think it is going to be harmful to Vegas.” Mild criticism, perhaps, but it needed saying and—coming from Hill—it’s almost seismic. Using logic with the current regime is difficult, even on a good day, but Las Vegas has to start somewhere and Hill should be encouraged to keep fighting the good fight.