Smoking is currently allowed on 25% of the casino floor, but those areas are spread out widely over the entire gambling area, with the effect that secondhand smoke is present and detectable even in nonsmoking sections. That approach is vehemently opposed by many casino workers who say nothing less than a full ban can protect their health and give them the same workplace protections that other workers in New Jersey are guaranteed. Despite ever-growing support - most of the state Legislature has signed on as co-sponsors, and New Jersey’s governor promises he’ll sign it - the bill has been bottled up in state government committees without votes.Ī December push fizzled when some lawmakers pivoted away from a full ban in favor of a compromise proposal favored by the casino industry that would build enclosed smoking rooms in which employees would volunteer to work.
This will mark the fourth year of a sustained push to close a loophole in the state’s public smoking law that specifically exempted casinos from smoke-free workplaces. Mark Giannantonio, president of Resorts casino as well as the Casino Association of New Jersey, said the industry is upbeat about Atlantic City’s prospects in the new year “as we further transform Atlantic City into the leading regional gaming and tourism destination.”
