Atlantic City casino workers have tried unsuccessfully for years to persuade New Jersey lawmakers to outlaw smoking on gambling floors. On Friday morning, they took their efforts to court.
In a lawsuit filed in State Superior Court in Mercer County, groups representing thousands of casino employees accused state legislators of giving special treatment to casino owners by allowing them to let people smoke inside their facilities. The state has allowed casinos to “knowingly force employees to work in toxic conditions,” the workers argued in court documents, and as a result, casino workers have experienced “life-threatening illness and death.”
“Pretty much the worst thing we hear on this job is, ‘Can I have an ashtray?’” Lamont White, who has worked as a card dealer at numerous Atlantic City casinos since 1985, said in an interview. “Pretty much every worker in New Jersey is protected, except for casino workers.”
The lawsuit was filed against Gov. Philip D. Murphy and the state’s acting health commissioner, Kaitlin Baston. It asks the court to strike down the legal loophole exempting casinos from the statewide ban on indoor smoking.
Most states with legalized gambling prohibit smoking inside casinos. Even in states where it is allowed, some casino operators have banned it. Atlantic City, the nation’s most prominent gambling hub outside of Nevada, has become the last major refuge for smokers in the Northeast. (Most casinos in Las Vegas also allow smoking.)
The issue has long been contentious in New Jersey. In 2022, when legislation to prohibit smoking inside casinos was considered, the organization representing casinos opposed it. It argued that such a ban would be bad for business, at a time when they were contending with the lingering effects of the pandemic as well as the prospect of new competition from casinos in or around New York City.
But the Atlantic City casino workers said chronic exposure to “potentially deadly secondhand smoke” had caused them stress and health issues including cancer, asthma and heart disease. At least one worker, who did not smoke, died as a result of disease typically related to smoking, according to court documents.
The governor’s office and casino operators did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
When state lawmakers passed the Smoke-Free Air Act in 2006, they prohibited indoor smoking virtually everywhere in New Jersey, but an exception was made for casinos.
The lawsuit was filed by the United Auto Workers, the union representing some casino workers, and an organization called Casino Employees Against Smoking’s Effects, or CEASE. In the suit, workers argue that the Smoke-Free Air Act, which cites health risks faced by employees exposed to secondhand smoke in the workplace, violates provisions of the New Jersey State Constitution that guarantee a right to safety and forbid lawmakers from passing “special laws” or granting “exclusive privilege” to corporations like casinos.
The “favoritism granted to corporate casinos,” they say in court documents, is “repugnant” and forces casino workers to “risk death and illness in order to work and provide for their families — unlike almost all other New Jersey workers.”
In 2022, a bill to ban smoking in New Jersey casinos appeared to have momentum but ultimately stalled.
Nicole Vitola, a founding member of CEASE and a dealer at the Borgata casino in Atlantic City, was among the workers who pushed for the casino smoking ban that year.
“We know there’s lawmakers who want this,” Ms. Vitola, 49, said. “But for some reason they are holding it back. This is another avenue we can try to do this, because every day we work in the smoke increases the chances we get sick.”
Nancy Erika Smith, a lawyer representing the workers, said forcing workers to expose themselves to secondhand smoke amounted to discrimination.
“It’s disgusting to sacrifice workers’ health because of some backroom politics where they don’t even have to explain themselves,” Ms. Smith said.
She argued that such a ban would not hurt the casinos’ bottom line and said the employees wanted the industry to be successful.
“Casinos are the economic engine of Atlantic City — nobody disputes that,” she said. “It’s almost a company town.”
