Atlantic City casinos employees want action on smoking ban bill
By David Danzis and Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Review-Journal
February 4, 2025- Casino employees in Atlantic City are demanding action after a year of inactivity on the part of New Jersey lawmakers to ban smoking inside their workplaces.
In January 2023, a state Senate health committee voted in favor of a proposed bill that would close the legal loophole that exempts Atlantic City casinos from the N.J.’s smoke-free air law. Since then, the bill has not advanced despite assurances from lawmakers that action would be taken.
“It’s been a year since the Senate Health Committee voted to protect us from secondhand smoke, and yet we’re still waiting for action from Senate leadership,” said Pete Naccarelli, a table games dealer at the Borgata casino-hotel and co-founder of Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects, or C.E.A.S.E. “Casino employees have waited long enough. How many more workers have to get sick despite never smoking a day in their lives before lawmakers in Trenton will make good on their promises?
More than two-thirds of the New Jersey Legislature is either a sponsor or co-sponsor of companion bills that would permanently ban smoking in Atlantic City casinos. The state’s governor has said he would sign the bill if it reached his desk.
“The votes are here, the support is here, and it’s time for our legislators to pass (the bill) now. We’ve waited long enough — it’s time to close this loophole and protect our health,” Naccarelli said.
