Workers pushing for an end to smoking in casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, say the main employee union has been won over by tobacco companies seeking allies in the fight against smoking restrictions.
Whether to ban smoking is one of the more controversial issues not only in Atlantic City casinos, but in other states where workers have expressed concern about second-hand smoke. They are waging similar campaigns in Kansas, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
The anti-smoking campaigners cite a 2022 report by Las Vegas-based C3 Gaming, a consulting firm, showing that casinos that went smoke-free "appear to be performing better than their counterparts that continue to allow smoking.”
Workers have been pushing for four years to end an exemption in New Jersey’s clean air law that allows smoking inside the nine casinos. They say they or their co-workers are becoming ill with cancer, heart disease and other conditions related to exposure to second-hand smoke.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, has said he will sign a bill to end casino smoking if it reaches his desk.
The casinos oppose that effort, saying it will cost Atlantic City thousands of jobs and lead to decreased tax revenue for state programs for senior citizens and the disabled.
The workers group that calls itself CEASE (Casino Employees Against Smoking’s Effects) filed an appeal of a court ruling in August that allowed smoking to continue in the nine Atlantic City casinos.