Posted on: January 14, 2025, 12:49h.
Last updated on: January 13, 2025, 02:50h.
Atlantic City casino employees who would favor a smoke-free workplace are hoping New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) uses his 2025 State of the State Address on Tuesday to encourage lawmakers to force the nine gaming properties down the shore to cease the allowance of indoor tobacco use.
New Jersey’s Smoke-Free Air Act, signed into law in January 2006 by Gov. Richard Codey (D), provided exemptions for state-licensed casinos and parimutuel wagering facilities.
The statute allows casinos that have at least 150 slot machines, 10 table games, or some combination of the two, to designate indoor areas where cigarettes and cigars can be smoked.
CEASE — Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects — has been calling on lawmakers in Trenton to end the casino smoking loophole for several years. Murphy has expressed his support for making the casinos go smoke-free, but he has yet to pressure the Democratic-controlled Legislature to get such a bill to his desk.
State of the State Address
Today at 3 pm, Murphy will deliver his seventh State of the State Address. His second to last address on the health of the Garden State, as New Jersey limits governors to two four-year terms, CEASE hopes Murphy addresses casino smoking.
Governor Murphy can’t claim a legacy of fighting for everyday New Jerseyans if he leaves office without closing the casino smoking loophole,” opined Lamont White, CEASE co-founder and a table games dealer at the Borgata. “This is his moment to prove he stands with working people, and not just by saying he will sign a bill if it hits his desk, but by explicitly calling for the New Jersey legislature to pass this legislation.”
For yet another legislative session, bills to end casino smoking have been filed. The 221st New Jersey Legislature, a two-year session, began a year ago this month and runs through Jan. 13, 2026. Assembly Bill 2143 and Senate Bill 3372 both seek to end the casino smoking loophole, but each piece of legislation has stalled in their respective chamber committees.
Democratic leaders have appeased the casino industry’s pleas to not remove their smoking privileges on claims that a tobacco ban would devastate gaming revenue and cost thousands of jobs, reduce gaming taxes, and possibly shutter a resort or two. CEASE isn’t buying it.
The grassroots coalition of gaming workers points to independent studies that suggest smoke-free gaming policies help — not hurt — business. CEASE regularly points to the fact that Parx Casino in Pennsylvania is the top-grossing gaming facility in the state’s 17-casino industry. Located just north of Philadelphia, Parx is one of only two casinos in Pennsylvania that are smoke-free. Parx Casino Shippensburg, a mini-casino, is the other.
Action, Not Words
CEASE originated after Murphy’s temporary executive order banning casino smoking during the COVID-19 pandemic expired during the summer of 2021. Murphy has said he cannot singlehandedly change the 2006 smoking law.
CEASE says it’s past time that Murphy demands action from the Legislature.
“With the Senate set to meet and momentum building around this critical issue, the timing couldn’t be more perfect for bold leadership. If he doesn’t act now, he will be remembered as the governor who allowed tens of thousands of workers to remain exposed to harmful secondhand smoke,” White declared.
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