Atlantic City casino workers plan ad blitz to ban smoking after court rejects ban

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A group of Atlantic City casino workers seeking to ban smoking in the gambling halls will launch an advertising campaign featuring their children in response to a judge's rejection of a lawsuit that would have ended smoking in the nine casinos.

The workers, calling themselves Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects, said Wednesday 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.

And a labor union that brought the unsuccessful lawsuit said it would withdraw from the state AFL-CIO over the issue, saying the parent labor group has not supported the health and safety of workers.

On Friday, a state judge rejected the lawsuit, ruling the workers' claim that New Jersey's Constitution guarantees them a right to safety “is not well-settled law” and that they were unlikely to prevail with such a claim.

The ruling relieved the casinos, which continue to struggle in the aftermath of the COVID19 pandemic, with most of them winning less money from in-person gamblers than they did before the virus outbreak in 2020.

But it dismayed workers including dealers, who say they have to endure eight-hour shifts of people blowing smoke in their faces or just breathing cigarette smoke in the air.

“I dealt through two pregnancies,” said Nicole Vitola, a Borgata dealer and co-founder of the anti-smoking group. “It was grueling. We're human beings. We have an aging workforce.”

Whether to ban smoking is one of the most controversial issues not only in Atlantic City casinos, but in other states where workers have expressed concern about secondhand smoke. They are waging similar campaigns in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Virginia.

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 workers sought to overturn New Jersey's indoor smoking law, which bans it in virtually every other workplace except casinos.

The ad campaign will be titled “Kids of C.E.A.S.E.” and will feature the children of casino workers expressing concern for their parents' health and safety in smoke-filled casinos.

“I have two kids, aged 17 and 11,” said Pete Naccarelli, a Borgata dealer. “I want to be there for them when they graduate, when they get married, when they have kids. We do not want to be collateral damage for casinos' perceived profits.”

The Casino Association of New Jersey expressed gratitude last week for the court ruling, and it said the casinos will work for a solution that protects workers and the financial interests of the industry.

"Our industry has always been willing to sit down and collaborate to find common ground, but the smoking ban advocates have refused," said Mark Giannantonio, president of the association and of Resorts casino.

The casinos say that banning smoking will lead to revenue and job losses. But workers dispute those claims.

Workers called on state legislators to advance a bill that would ban smoking that has been bottled up for more than a year. It was released from a Senate committee in January but never voted on by the full Senate. It remains in an Assembly committee.

Sen. Joseph Vitale, a Democrat, promised the bill would get a full Senate vote “shortly.”

Also Wednesday, Dan Vicente, regional director of the United Auto Workers, said he will pull the union out of the AFL-CIO, saying the larger group has been insufficiently supportive of casino workers' health. The AFL-CIO did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

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