Hard Rock boss confers with N.J. guv on casino smoking
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. » The chairman of the global Hard Rock casino and entertainment company spoke recently with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy about the “economic challenges” of banning smoking in casinos, which a bill pending in the state Legislature would do.
Murphy has said he will sign a bill banning smoking in the nine Atlantic City casinos if the Legislature
passes it. A spokeswoman said Monday he maintains that stance, but declined further comment.
Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International, told The Associated Press on Monday that smoking was one of several topics he discussed with the governor in recent weeks.
“I don’t think I was trying to change the governor’s mind,” Allen said. “It was a
general conversation about the economic challenges of a smoking ban and the impact it would have” if one were enacted.
“We operate in many states where smoking is not allowed,” Allen said. “When you look at markets where smoking has been banned, there have been significant double-digit declines” in casino revenue.”
Anti-smoking advocates say the casinos are overstating the potential economic impacts of banning smoking, predicting that customers and revenues will return after an initial adjustment period.
For two years, a group of Atlantic City dealers has been pushing lawmakers to prohibit smoking in the casinos.
The casinos’ trade group, The Casino Association of New Jersey, opposes a smoking ban. It commissioned a report in February that predicted widespread job and revenue losses if smoking were prohibited in Atlantic City’s casinos.
In the meantime, the casinos’ financial picture has been slowly improving. Atlantic City’s casinos collectively saw their profitability increase in the first quarter of this year compared not only with a year earlier, but also to the pre-pandemic period.
But only four of the nine casinos individually reported higher gross operating profits than they did in the first quarter of 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic took hold.