July 4 Marks Four-Year Return of Atlantic City Casino Smoking
Posted on: July 4, 2025, 03:33h.
Last updated on: July 3, 2025, 12:14h.
- July 4, 2025, marks four years since casino smoking returned to Atlantic City
- All nine casinos allow smoking in designated areas of their gaming floor
- Some casino workers want a smoke-free workplace
Today, July 4, 2025, marks four years since indoor smoking returned to Atlantic City casinos. Many gaming and resort workers who wish to have a clean indoor air workplace continue to call on New Jersey lawmakers to close the smoking loophole afforded to the nine resorts down the shore.
Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects, or CEASE, tells Casino.org that its members continue to be “needlessly exposed to secondhand smoke.” CEASE, a grassroots coalition of table game dealers, slot attendants, and other resort workers, originated after New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s (D) emergency order that temporarily prohibited indoor smoking in casinos and parimutuel facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic expired on July 4, 2021.
During the first year of the pandemic, it became abundantly clear that eliminating smoke from casinos benefits everyone — there was a noticeable improvement in the health and quality of life of casino workers, and casinos in Atlantic City prospered despite industry leaders’ sky-will-fall narrative,” said Pete Naccarelli, a longtime Atlantic City table games dealer and co-founder of CEASE.
“Four years later, the evidence is clearer than ever that casinos don’t have to sacrifice workers’ health to foster economic success — in fact, almost 80% of South Jersey voters say they would be more likely to visit a casino if it were smoke-free,” Naccarelli continued.
“So, why are we still fighting for our basic right to breathe clean air in the workplace? The most patriotic thing New Jersey lawmakers can do this 4th of July is pass smokefree legislation as soon as possible,” the CEASE leader appealed
Governor Limited in Power
Murphy has said repeatedly he would sign a bill to force the nine casinos to go smoke-free.
If legislation comes to my desk to ban smoking, you should assume that I will sign it,” the term-limited lame duck said in May. “There was a period of time due to the public health emergency where we did not allow [smoking] in the casinos. But at a certain point, that was always going to expire, and it did expire.”
As governor, Murphy can issue emergency orders related to public health, as allowed through the New Jersey Emergency Health Powers Act. Such proclamations, however, can only be temporary and must be during a state-designated public health emergency, with COVID-19 being a prime example.
Murphy cannot single-handedly permanently extinguish casino smoking through an executive order. Only the New Jersey Legislature can amend the state’s 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act, which allows gaming floors with a minimum of 150 slot machines, 10 table games, or some combination thereof to designate up to 25% of the space for tobacco use. The law does not require separate ventilation systems for the smoking area.
Smoking Importance Questioned
Various studies on the ongoing allowance of casino smoking and the impact of bans on gross revenue have reached differing conclusions. The casino resorts in Atlantic City believe a complete smoking ban would lead to reduced revenue, which in turn would lead to job layoffs.
But, in Pennsylvania, a state where casino smoking is also allowed, Parx, a casino that is voluntarily smoke-free, continues to lead in terms of gross gaming revenue.
The 17 brick-and-mortar casinos in Pennsylvania last year reported gross gaming revenue of $3.38 billion from their physical slots and table games. Parx accounted for $569.8 million, or nearly 17% control of the market.
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