Atlantic City Casino Workers Say Strong Summer Discredits Pro-Smoking Argument
Posted on: September 19, 2025, 10:45h.
Last updated on: September 19, 2025, 10:58h.
- Atlantic City casinos enjoyed a strong summer
- In-person casino revenue was the best in many years
- Casino workers say it’s time to end indoor smoking
Atlantic City is fresh off its best summer in more than a decade. Casino workers who wish to enjoy a clean indoor air workplace say that proves that casino smoking could be eliminated without any substantial impact on the New Jersey shore town’s gaming industry.
Casino.org reported this week that in-person casino revenue at the nine properties totaled $855 million during June, July, and August. That was 5.5% higher than the 2024 summer.
Casino employees seeking to close the smoking loophole afforded to gaming and parimutuel properties in New Jersey’s 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act say the strong summer shows that banning tobacco on the gaming properties wouldn’t have a detrimental impact.
In rejecting our calls to simply be able to breathe clean air at work, the casino industry has repeatedly argued that they can’t change their policies in the ‘fragile’ business environment,” said Pete Naccarelli, a longtime Atlantic City table games dealer and co-founder of Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE).
“Despite all of the evidence to prove that eliminating smoking will not negatively impact the industry’s success, Atlantic City casinos have pushed back, telling us that their businesses simply can’t handle the possibility. But clearly, casinos are making more than enough to weather any changes. While the industry executives make millions of dollars, casino workers have to face health issues due to toxic secondhand smoke just to make a living. How is that fair?” Naccarelli asked.
Competing Studies
The Atlantic City casino industry claims that a smoking ban would hurt in-person gross gaming revenue (GGR). With smoking allowed inside most casinos in Philadelphia, Atlantic City leaders say many smokers who enjoy smoking while gambling will take their business into Pennsylvania.
The Casino Association of New Jersey, citing a 2022 study it commissioned from Spectrum Gaming, contends that a smoking ban would lead to annual GGR declines of 4.2% to 10.9%. That could lead to as many as 2,512 casino jobs being terminated.
Other studies, including those commissioned by anti-smoking advocacies, have concluded less consequential results, as smoking rates in the US continue to decline.
C3 Gaming, a since-defunct gaming consultancy, wrote in 2022 that “data from multiple jurisdictions clearly indicates that banning smoking no longer causes a dramatic drop in gaming revenue.”
That might not apply to Atlantic City, as smokers from Delaware, Maryland, and New York patronize Atlantic City because casinos in their home states don’t allow tobacco.
Atlantic City Healthy, For Now
Atlantic City’s casinos are doing well, with in-person play strong and iGaming continuing to grow. Their long-term outlook, however, is threatened by casinos coming to downstate New York.
By the end of the year, three casinos are expected to be greenlit in the New York City region. North Jersey and downstate New York are Atlantic City’s biggest feeder markets.
As is the case at the four Upstate New York commercial casinos, indoor smoking won’t be allowed at the downstate casinos. Six casino bids are seeking the licenses. The casinos are targeting Manhattan (1 bid), Brooklyn (1), Queens (2), the Bronx (1), and Westchester County (1).
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