‘We don't see the need to have to risk our lives': Workers react to ruling to permit smoking in AC casinos

After a judge ruled Friday to allow smoking to be permitted within the nine casinos throughout Atlantic City, NJ, a group of casino workers who are against smoking in the gambling houses and State Senator Joe Vitale (D-Middlesex) held a meeting to decry the decision.

On Wednesday morning, members of the group Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects, or CEASE, the United Auto Workers Union and State Sen. Vitale, gathered in an online meeting in order to discuss options and find ways that, they claimed, could protect worker health from the dangers of smoking.

"We don't see the need to have to risk our lives anymore to feel like they're making a profit off of it. I've dealt through two pregnancies, and it was grueling. We still have a lot of pregnant dealers that have to go through the same thing," Nicole Vitola, one of the founders of CEASE, said Wednesday. "We have a lot of elderly dealers with respiratory problems, heart conditions. We're human beings. We're aging. We're an aging workforce. There's a young workforce that doesn't want to come into this industry, and we've had it."

On Friday, Superior Court Judge Patrick Bartels ruled to reject a lawsuit that would have ended smoking in the nine casinos.

It was a setback for workers who have been trying for four years to ban smoking in their workplaces, first by trying to get lawmakers to change the law, then by filing a lawsuit.

A lawyer for the workers said she will ask the state Supreme Court to consider the case on an expedited basis.

On Wednesday, a representative for the Casino Association of New Jersey shared a statement from the group's president, Mark Giannantonio, saying that the group was "gratified" by the judge's decision.

"We are gratified by the court’s decision to dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint and deny its attempt to change the Smoke-Free Air Act outside of the legislative process. The casino industry and other stakeholders including the City of Atlantic City and Unite Here/Local 54 have taken significant steps over the years to create a healthier environment for employees and patrons, including limiting smoking to just a fraction of the floorspace," read a statement from Giannantonio. "Our industry has always been willing to sit down and collaborate to find common ground, but the smoking ban advocates have refused. We look forward to continuing to work with stakeholders towards a solution that addresses the health concerns of our employees, while also protecting the collective interest and well-being of the entire Atlantic City workforce.”

The casinos had warned that thousands of jobs and millions in gambling revenue and taxes could be lost if smoking was banned.

"I wasn't pleased with the judge's decision, but I know that we will get this done fighting the legislative way," Vitola said.

State Senator Vitale agreed with Vitola, saying the loss in court meant he would have to up his ongoing efforts to pass a bill to end smoking inside Atlantic City casinos.

"We know that the health consequences are extraordinary, and so we're going to pursue this, and we're going to ask that the bill be voted on shortly, and hopefully we get to pass the Senate and then the assembly and to the governor, who said he would sign the bill," said Vitale.

Yet, Vitale said that the last time the bill was put up for a vote, some legislators voted it down after expressing concerns over economic impacts ending smoking indoors at casinos could have on the industry.

But, he said that, as proven at restaurants after smoking was ended there, legislators didn't see a negative economic impact when smoking was banned.

"A year later, they came to me and said, we couldn't have been more wrong," Vitale said of legislators who didn't support ending smoking in restaurants. "Business is great. People appreciate it. And, wherever it is that smoking existed before and no longer does, has been a benefit for everyone. And can you imagine reintroducing smoking in a restaurant today or into a tavern or bar today? It would be ridiculous."

And, he said, if legislators supported a smoking ban at casinos now, they wouldn't see any negative economic impact either.

Currently, smoking is allowed on 25% of the casino floor in Atlantic City. But those areas are not contiguous, and the practical effect is that secondhand smoke is present in varying degrees throughout the casino floor.

The lawsuit filed in April by the United Auto Workers, which represents dealers at the Bally’s, Caesars and Tropicana casinos, sought to overturn New Jersey’s indoor smoking law, which bans it in virtually every workplace except casinos.

Along with taking the case to a higher court and Vitale's legislative push, casino workers also plan to launch an advertising campaign featuring their children in response to a judge's decision.

Workers said the digital ads will target the districts of state lawmakers who have the power to advance pending legislation that would ban smoking in the casinos.