Posted on: September 13, 2024, 08:27h.
Last updated on: September 13, 2024, 08:28h.
Opponents of indoor smoking in Atlantic City casinos debate in their plea to the New Jersey Supreme Court that the 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act violates workplace health protection rights. Steve Mitchell, from Wilmington, Del., enjoys a cigarette while gaming at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City on Feb. 2, 2024. The issue of indoor smoking in Atlantic City casinos is still unresolved in the New Jersey legal system. (Image: NBC10)
The 2006 regulation banned smoking indoors in almost all workplaces and public areas. Nonetheless, legislators in the state nearly twenty years ago granted exceptions to the smoking ban for cigar lounges, horse racetracks, betting facilities, hotels and motels where up to 20% of the rooms can be designated for smoking, and casinos with a minimum of 150 slot machines and 10 table games.
Lawyers from the United Auto Workers (UAW), whose members include table game dealers who are most affected by secondhand smoke due to the 2006 casino exception, stated in the union’s appeal that the smoking law improperly favors an entire industry.
Excluding casino employees from safety protections granted to other workers is clear bias for a powerful industry situated in just one town in the State, exactly what the New Jersey Constitution prohibits,” the UAW appeal stated. Plaintiffs argue that allowing gambling in Atlantic City doesn’t make it exempt from the laws and protections provided by New Jersey’s Constitution and laws.
Atlantic City casinos may permit indoor smoking in up to 25% of their gaming areas. There are no regulations mandating physical separation of smoking and non-smoking areas, resulting in health officials warning of lingering secondhand smoke throughout the premises.