Judge allows smoking to continue in Atlantic City casinos, dealing blow to workers

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Judge allows smoking to continue in Atlantic City casinos, dealing blow to workers

2024-08-31 05:35 Last Updated At：05:41

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A judge on Friday allowed smoking to continue in Atlantic City’s casinos, giving some measure of relief to the city's struggling casino industry while rebuffing workers who have long sought to be able to breathe clean air on the casino floor.

The ruling by Superior Court Judge Patrick Bartels represented a major victory for the city's nine casinos, most of which are winning less money from in-person gamblers than they did before the COVID19 pandemic hit.

But it was a big a setback for workers who have been trying for four years to ban smoking in their workplaces, first by trying to get lawmakers to change the law, then by filing a lawsuit. A lawyer for the workers said she will ask the state Supreme Court to consider the case on an expedited basis.

The casinos had warned that thousands of jobs and millions in gambling revenue and taxes could be lost if smoking was banned.

“We are gratified by the court’s decision to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint and deny its attempt to change the Smoke-Free Air Act outside of the legislative process," said Mark Giannantonio, president of Resorts Casino and of the Casino Association of New Jersey.

He said the industry, the city and the main casino workers union, Local 54 of Unite Here “have taken significant steps over the years to create a healthier environment for employees and patrons, including limiting smoking to just a fraction of the floorspace.”

"We look forward to continuing to work with stakeholders towards a solution that addresses the health concerns of our employees, while also protecting the collective interest and well-being of the entire Atlantic City workforce,” Giannantonio said.

Anti-smoking workers vowed to continue pushing for smoke-free casinos.

“This fight is far from over," said Lamont White, a Borgata dealer and a leader of the anti-smoking movement. “While today’s outcome is disappointing, our determination remains unshaken.”

White said the ruling gives legislators "even more reason to uphold their responsibility to finally do the right thing and pass the bipartisan legislation that New Jerseyans overwhelmingly support,” he said. “It’s time to make things right for the thousands of us workers still working and living without the same protection afforded to every other New Jerseyan.”

Nancy Erika Smith, who argued the case on behalf of the workers, decried the ruling and promised to appeal it.

“While the rest of the nation moves away from poisoning workers for profits, New Jersey shames itself,” she said in a written statement. "As long as the Governor, the Legislature and the Courts allow the extremely rich casino industry to poison its workers, we will continue our fight.”

Whether to ban smoking is one of the most controversial issues not only in Atlantic City casinos, but in other states where workers have expressed concern about secondhand smoke. They are waging similar campaigns in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Virginia.

Currently, smoking is allowed on 25% of the casino floor in Atlantic City. But those areas are not contiguous, and the practical effect is that secondhand smoke is present in varying degrees throughout the casino floor.

The lawsuit filed in April by the United Auto Workers, which represents dealers at the Bally’s, Caesars and Tropicana casinos, sought to overturn New Jersey’s indoor smoking law, which bans it in virtually every workplace except casinos.

In a May 13 hearing before the judge in Trenton, Smith raised issues of equal protection under the law, and what she called a constitutional right to safety. The judge, however, said the workers’ “reliance on a constitutional right to safety is not well-settled law” and predicted they would not be likely to prevail with such a claim.

The state attorney general’s office emphasized the possibility that a smoking ban could reduce tax revenue that funds programs for New Jersey’s senior citizens and disabled residents.

Atlantic City briefly implemented a smoking ban in 2008, but quickly repealed it after the casinos experienced a drop in revenue of nearly 20% in two weeks, according to Seth Ptasiewicz, an attorney for casino workers who want to keep the current smoking policy.

Smoking opponents dispute that the casinos would lose business, citing a study showing casinos that ended smoking did better financially without it.

The anti-smoking workers brought the lawsuit after years of efforts to get lawmakers to change the law became bogged down.

Shortly after a bill that would end smoking advanced out of a state Senate committee, other lawmakers introduced a competing bill that would continue to allow smoking on 25% of the casino floor, but would reconfigure where it is allowed. No employee would be forced to work in a smoking area against their will, under the bill.

Neither measure has been acted on in months.

Follow Wayne Parry on X at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

Nelly Korda and the U.S. keep rolling in the Solheim Cup and lead Europe 10-6

2024-09-15 08:17 Last Updated At：08:20

GAINESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Alison Lee sparked a shirtless caddie celebration by spinning a wedge into the cup for eagle. Andrea Lee holed a bunker shot to set up Rose Zhang’s walk-off eagle one hole later. And Megan Khang paused for 10 seconds to let gravity help her out on a critical birdie putt.

The wait was worth it for the United States, which maintained a four-point lead over Europe in the Solheim Cup on Saturday.

With top-ranked Nelly Korda getting an afternoon break after winning the leadoff point in three consecutive sessions of team matches, U.S. captain Stacy Lewis watched her role players excel, and the Americans concluded a warm, breezy day at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club with a 10-6 advantage.

“They’re playing the way I expected them to play, so I’m not surprised at all,” Lewis said. “But at the same time, to do it on this stage and in these moments and to pull these shots off and to make the putts and to do it with the joy that they’re doing it with, it’s the coolest part to me.”

Europe, which has captured the Solheim Cup the last three times, won the last two matches to conclude a 4-4 day. But the team in royal blue and yellow will need its largest comeback in Sunday singles to make it a record four in a row. The U.S. rallied from four points down to win in Germany in 2015.

The U.S. needs 4 1/2 points from a dozen singles matches to win the cup, and Europe needs eight points to retain it. Captain Suzann Pettersen drew inspiration from the European Ryder Cup team's rally from the same deficit to win at Medinah in 2012.

“I was on the opposite side in Germany, and I know what it feels like,” Pettersen said. “Everyone remembers Medinah. I mean, it’s a tough task.”

Lewis has relied on data to find the right combinations, whether keeping Korda and Allisen Corpuz together for alternate shot; sending rookie Lauren Coughlin out with three partners; or giving Zhang a comfortable pairing with Andrea Lee, her fellow Stanford Cardinal.

“I know their games backwards and forwards, and it’s allowed me to create some really good pairings,” Lewis said.

Korda and Corpuz fell behind early against Carlota Ciganda and Emily Pedersen but turned it around on the back nine and got a break when Corpuz hit a worm-burner of a fairway wood into the par-5 14th hole that avoided the water and settled within 20 feet. Korda put her hands on her head in disbelief and Lewis gave Corpuz a shoulder rub in the fairway.

Korda holed the putt for eagle, her second in a row on a hole the U.S. has dominated, and she and Corpuz became the first American duo to go 4-0 in foursomes after winning twice last year in Spain.

“The Americans have played unbelievable. I don’t know how many eagles they’ve had. It seems like they’ve had double figures,” Hall of Famer and European assistant captain Laura Davies said. “They’ve just played great golf. Out-putted us at the moment. Deep squad of players. We’ll never say never, but it is going to be very, very difficult to get the cup back.”

A day after transportation problems prevented most fans from getting to the golf course for the opening tee shots, a situation that LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan took responsibility for, the grandstands surrounding the first tee were full and fans lined the gallery ropes shortly after 7 a.m.

The only thing that kept them quiet was a slow start by the Americans, but it got loud once Korda started rolling.

In the first afternoon better-ball match, Anna Nordqvist and Madelene Sagstrom were 2 down to Khang and Alison Lee when Nordqvist birdied the par-3 11th hole. Khang's tying putt hung on the lip for 10 seconds before dropping, and she confirmed with a rules official that she had not waited too long for the ball to move.

Needing two putts to win the 14th, Khang made her 15-footer for eagle anyway, setting up the latest fist-pumping celebration for the Americans’ loudest cheerleader, who was next to the green in a cowboy hat when Corpuz hit her approach hours earlier.

Khang and Lee closed it out on the next hole for a 4-and-3 victory, Lee's first in a Solheim Cup match since 2015. She gave the U.S. an early lead with her wedge from 86 yards for an eagle 2 on the second hole, and the Americans’ caddies stripped from the waist up and chest-bumped to pay off a bet with Lee that they agreed to on the tee box.

“Literally holed out five minutes after that conversation. Great motivation,” Lee said.

Zhang and Andrea Lee never trailed in their 6-and-4 victory over Linn Grant and Celine Boutier. Zhang, the youngest U.S. player at 21 who had a forgettable Solheim debut last year, joined Korda and Coughlin by winning all three of her matches.

Pettersen benched Leona Maguire, a valuable contributor in the last two Solheim Cups who has played poorly this year, for both sessions. Rookie Albane Valenzuela also sat out all day, while Charley Hull and Pedersen played four matches each.

Hull delivered. The excitable English player hit a 300-yard-plus drive on the par-4 18th to set up a wedge to tap-in range by Esther Henseleit for a 1-up victory in foursomes over Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho, then did it again as she and Georgia Hall beat Corpuz and Lilia Vu 2 up in better ball.

Lexi Thompson improved her record in alternate shot to 7-2-1 in what is likely her final Solheim Cup, teaming with the unbeaten Coughlin to make four birdies in six holes on the back nine and beat Maja Stark and Hall, 4 and 3.

Thompson and Ewing were beaten 2 and 1 by Ciganda and Pedersen in fourballs. Ewing has lost her last six Solheim Cup matches.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Judge allows smoking to continue in Atlantic City casinos, dealing blow to workers

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Judge allows smoking to continue in Atlantic City casinos, dealing blow to workers

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