Election Special

It’s always too soon to celebrate the demise of smoking in Atlantic City. However, clean-air advocates (and customers) have reason to feel guardedly optimistic today. Ally Mikie Sherrill (D, pictured) smoked status-quo champion Jack Ciattrelli (R), 56% to 43%. Despite character flaws and serious bread-and-butter concerns by voters, Sherrill prevailed. It was predicted to be a nail-biter and ended up a laugher.

Now Sherrill’s anti-smoking rhetoric will be put to the test, especially with a Lege that has majority, bipartisan support for clean casinos but can’t get a bill to the floor, let alone to feckless Gov. Phil Murphy (D). Unfortunately, Sherrill has kept mum on the issue whilst running for governor, so CEASE and Americans for Nonsmokers Rights will need to hold her feet to the fire. See what we mean about premature victory laps? Let the following words of Sherrill’s be carved in stone, lest she backslide: “It is unacceptable to force working families to make a choice between earning their paycheck and protecting their health, particularly given that we know lung cancer is the top cause of cancer deaths in New Jersey.” Amen.

When it came to the smoking issue, Ciattarelli was a breath of stale air. His tar-laden stance that the casinos and unions ought to work it out was too cute by half. He knows damn well (or else is very stupid, which we doubt) that the UAW and Unite-Here are at daggers drawn on the issue, and Big Gaming is only too happy to keep playing them off against each other. Characterizing smoking as an internal matter for the industry is a vote for carcinogenic air forever. Considering that a conservative Republican—American Gaming Association CEO Bill Miller—has gone so far as to say canning smokers would be “without detrimental effects,” you have to wonder why Ciattarelli is so beholden to the Cancer Caucus. (Not for nothing does he hold a B.S. degree from Seton Hall University.)

Cancer Jack didn’t help his cause by saying during the campaign that Atlantic City would have to fend for itself. This must have gladdened the hearts of those who covet a gambling hall at the Meadowlands. (Gosh knows, it needs a drawing card better than either the New York Giants or New York Jets.) He hinted at a tax cut for casinos, but wasn’t specific and Sherrill has been pretty cagey on the issue as well, especially after Murphy pushed through a usurious tax hike on iGaming. In any event, Sherrill has a mandate to clear the air on the Boardwalk and we’ll be watching her closely.

Also suffering a double-digit wipeout yesterday was Virginia gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R). Like Jack Ciatterelli, she allied her fortunes with those of Donald Trump and got vaporized at the ballot box. (There’s a disastrous ‘branding exercise’ for you.) As far as gambling issues are concerned, Earle-Sears was perceived as a defender of the status quo as well. In the case of Virginia, that tends to mean trying to nail Jello to a wall, as the parameters of legalized gambling are constantly on the move. Today’s status quo is tomorrow’s casino referendum.

Earle-Sears would have maintained the ban on black-market slots advocated by predecessors Ralph Northam (D) and Glenn Youngkin (R). They’re fungus-like competition that the regular gambling industry could do very well without. Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger (D) “would seemingly be a boost for legalizing the machines,” so the legitimate industry has its work cut out for it in Richmond, especially with a Lege that would love to roll over for the operators of the illegitimate slots. Churchill Downs and Cordish Cos. will need to get the new governor’s ear right quick.

If Earle-Sears didn’t come right out in favor of a tax cut for OSB (and probably never would), she might at least have drawn the line at increasing its 15% impost. Spanberger is noncommittal on the issue but if she’s going to lower costs elsewhere, the money is going to have to come from someplace … and Big Gaming rarely has friends when taxes have to go up. Neither candidate offered a read on iGaming legalization, although Covers.com implies that Spanberger would likely be in favor and Earle-Sears against. The candidates were likewise mum on a not-very-popular casinos proposal for Fairfax County (one that is making MGM National Harbor quite uncomfortable). For the moment, that buck is passed to the Lege, for which Spanberger can heave a sigh of relief.

In what feels like an undercard, come-from-behind candidate Zohran Mamdani (D) squeezed past Andrew Cuomo (I) to win the mayoralty of New York City. By the time Mamdani takes office, the casino-selection issue will likely be moot. Unlike meddlesome predecessor Eric Adams (D/I/R/your brand here), Mamdani pledged to be hands-off on the issue, which currently sits with Albany. Although he personally opposed gambling, Mamdani promised to follow the will of the Lege and, if he’s as good as his word, we’ll be grateful. Adams was constantly trying to jam up unwilling constituents with megaresorts in their back yards.

Gridiron Grumbles: The Las Vegas Raiders threw in the towel on their 2-6 season by trading away Jakobi Meyers. The Silver & Black didn’t even get good draft picks from the Jacksonville Jaguars, who obviously liked what they saw from Meyers last Sunday. Meanwhile, Raiders coach Pete Carroll remains sadly in denial about what is clearly a season to forget. Don’t tell Carroll, but owner Mark Davis and shadow GM Tom Brady just flushed what’s left of the 2025-6 campaign down the toilet. Elsewhere, if it didn’t already look like the Indianapolis Colts could run the table (with a backup QB, no less), the acquisition of Sauce Gardner from the now-worthless New York Jets ought make people sit up and take notice. We sure did.