After Losing in Court, Atlantic City Casino Workers Plan No-Smoking Blitz

A group of Atlantic City casino workers trying to ban smoking in gambling halls will launch an advertising campaign with their children in response to a judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit that would have ended smoking in the nine casinos .

The workers, calling themselves Casino Employees Against the Effects of Smoking, said Wednesday that the digital ads will target the districts of state lawmakers who have the power to advance pending legislation that would ban smoking in casinos.

And a union that brought the unsuccessful lawsuit said it would withdraw from the state AFL-CIO over the issue, saying the parent labor group failed to support worker health and safety.

On Friday, a state judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling the workers’ contention that the New Jersey Constitution guarantees their right to safety “is not well-settled law” and that they are unlikely to prevail on such a claim.

The ruling freed casinos, which continue to struggle after the COVID-19 pandemic, with most of them making less money from in-person gamblers than they did before the virus hit in 2020.

But it has dismayed workers, including dealers, who say they have to endure eight-hour shifts with people blowing smoke in their faces or simply breathing in cigarette smoke.

“I made it through two pregnancies,” said Nicole Vitola, a Borgata dealer and co-founder of the anti-smoking group. “It was exhausting. We are human beings. We have an aging workforce.”

The smoking ban is one of the most controversial issues not only in Atlantic City casinos, but also in other states where workers have raised concerns about second-hand smoke. They are running similar campaigns in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Virginia.

Smoking is currently permitted 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 to varying degrees throughout the casino floor.

The workers tried to overturn New Jersey’s indoor smoking law, which bans it in almost every other workplace except casinos.

Children’s concerns

The ad campaign will be titled “CEASE’s Children” and will feature the children of casino workers expressing concern for the health and safety of their parents in smoky casinos.

“I have two kids, 17 and 11,” said Pete Naccarelli, a Borgata dealer. “I want to be with them when they graduate, when they get married, when they have children. We don’t want to be collateral damage to the perceived profits of the casinos.”

The New Jersey Casino Association expressed gratitude last week for the court’s decision and said casinos will work toward a resolution that protects workers and the industry’s financial interests.

“Our industry has always been willing to sit down and work together to find common ground, but smoke-ban advocates have refused,” said Mark Giannantonio, president of the association and Resorts Casino.

Casinos say banning smoking will result in lost revenue and jobs. But workers dispute these claims.

Workers have called on state lawmakers to advance a bill that would ban smoking, which has been stalled for more than a year. It was cleared by a Senate committee in January, but was never voted on by the full Senate. It remains in a committee of the Assembly.

Sen. Joseph Vitale, a Democrat, promised the bill would receive a full Senate vote “shortly.”

Also Wednesday, Dan Vicente, regional director of the United Auto Workers, said he would withdraw the union from the AFL-CIO, saying the larger group did not support the health of casino workers enough. The AFL-CIO did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

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