Anyone who’s been following sports betting in Atlantic City is likely unsurprised by the latest record. Analysts were predicting sports betting numbers would continue to be strong through the NFL football season, and it wasn’t just sports betting that put up impressive numbers. The casinos generated more total gaming revenue last month than a year ago. In fact, Stockton University’s Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism says the brick and mortar casino gaming revenues bested nine out of the past 10 Octobers.

Meantime, a new poll of New Jersey voters finds most would like Atlantic City’s casinos to become smoke-free. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network commissioned a poll of just over 800 adults and found voters, by a 2 to 1 margin, support permanently prohibiting indoor smoking at the casinos.

New Jersey companies stepped up their hiring last month, according to preliminary federal estimates released by the state today. And 20,000 new jobs were added, the tenth straight month of job gains. And finally, the state is making some good progress in recovering the jobs lost due to the pandemic. More than a half-million — or 72% — of the total jobs lost during the government-ordered shutdown in the spring of 2020 are now back. The state’s unemployment rate inched lower to 7% but it’s still stubbornly above the national average of 4.6%.

Environmentalists have been urging managers of the state’s public workers pension fund to divest the fund’s investments in fossil fuels. And they are considering another big climate-related investment. NJ Spotlight News’ John Reitmeyer tells us there’s a new proposal to commit $600 million in pension fund assets to a fund that backs renewable energy. For more, read John’s story here.