Pro-Smoking Union Boss Donna DeCaprio Elected Atlantic City Casino Workers’ Lead
Posted on: June 16, 2025, 10:50h.
Last updated on: June 16, 2025, 11:21h.
- Donna DeCaprio will continue leading Unite Here Local 54
- The union represents thousands of casino resort employees in Atlantic City
- DeCaprio doesn’t support forcing the casinos to go smoke-free
In what Unite Here Local 54 is calling a “historic” event, Donna DeCaprio is the victor of the union’s first uncontested election in nearly 40 years.
Unite Here Local 54 represents more than 12K hospitality workers in South New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware, including thousands of employees at the nine casino resorts in Atlantic City.
Union members work in an array of jobs, such as housekeepers, bartenders, waitstaff, cooks, bellmen, doormen, and other service jobs. The trade group doesn’t represent gaming workers like table game dealers, slot attendants, or casino hosts.
DeCaprio succeeded longtime Unite Here Local 54 President Bob McDevitt — a position he held for over a quarter-century — in July 2023 after he stepped down that March due to health reasons. DeCaprio was the financial secretary-treasurer of Local 54 before her promotion.
On Friday, DeCaprio won her first union presidential election in an uncontested race.
I am honored and humbled to lead this union at such a pivotal moment. We have proven that when workers stand together, we can win real change,” said DeCaprio. “I look forward to building on our successes, growing our movement, and ensuring every hospitality worker has the dignity and respect they deserve.”
A statement from Local 54 credited DeCaprio for “guiding the union through its landmark contract victory in 2022, which secured wage increases, improved benefits, and strong job protections for thousands of casino workers in Atlantic City.”
Pro-Casino Smoking
With downstate New York casinos looming, and in-person gross gaming revenue in Atlantic City slowing 1.1% last year — a downturn in retail play that’s continued in 2025 — some say now is not the time to end casino smoking down the New Jersey shore. Many casino workers, however, argue they deserve to work in an environment free of secondhand smoke.
Casino workers, organized as CEASE — Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects — continue to lobby state lawmakers to pass legislation to end the casino smoking loophole. DeCaprio won’t be their champion in that effort, despite her union representing some of the CEASE membership.
Just weeks after succeeding McDevitt, DeCaprio likened a casino smoking ban to economic “suicide.” Speaking with the Associated Press, DeCaprio opined that a complete elimination of tobacco smoking on the nine gaming floors “would be a suicide pact.”
Casino smoking remains inside certain casinos in nearby Philadelphia, though casinos in Delaware, Maryland, and the forthcoming downstate New York casinos are smoke-free.
Smoking Importance Questioned
Casino gambling and smoking once went hand-in-hand, but with cigarette consumption rates continuing to decline, some gaming analysts believe smoke-free establishments are just as, or even more, competitive than smoking properties.
In Pennsylvania, Parx, a smoke-free casino, has long been the top-grossing casino among the 17 brick-and-mortar casinos in the state.
The New Jersey Department of Health reports in its Health Assessment that about 11% of Garden State adults are cigarette smokers. In Atlantic County, which is among the poorest counties in the state, about 17% of adults regularly light up.
The national adult smoking rate is 11.6%, per the American Lung Association. That’s down almost 50% from 2001.
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