New Jersey Gov. Asks Lawmakers to Settle Casino Smoking Debate

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) is pushing for the state government to resolve a years-long debate over smoking inside Atlantic City casinos.

During an interview with The Press of Atlantic City last week, Sherrill said that she wants to see the legislature “get to work” on the controversial topic. However, she did not reveal her position on whether smoking should be authorized inside the nine casinos at the center of attention.

However, she noted that the eventual outcome needs to be determined by state lawmakers, as opposed to the judicial system.

New Jersey to decide on casino smoking

New Jersey state law does not allow for indoor smoking at nearly all venues. Casinos are one of the few facilities for which an exception was made.

A group of casino workers and lobbyists called the Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE) has spent the last few years fighting for changes not only in New Jersey retail casinos, but in other states as well. Specifically, they have targeted a provision in the 2006 New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act that allowed casinos to designate up to 25 percent of their gaming floor space for tobacco smoking.

The smoking sections also were not required to be partitioned, meaning that smoke originating from the 25 percent can waft into other areas of the facility. That puts employees in danger of suffering the effects of second-hand smoke, even if they don’t work in the pro-smoking section of the casinos.

The primary position held by CEASE members is that their Constitutional rights aren’t being upheld. They regularly refer to a section that states that individuals have “undeniable rights” including the rights to “[pursue] and [obtain] safety and happiness.”

Harsh conflict eventually resulted in CEASE and the United Auto Workers, a labor union that represents casino employees, submitting a lawsuit. A lower court judge dismissed the case in 2024, although a state appeals court in January ordered the court to pick the case up from the beginning.

Multiple factors at play

The ongoing debate could have serious consequences, no matter the result. 

On one hand, owners of land-based casinos in Atlantic City, which offer live-dealer table games, slot machines, and other amenities, argue that scrapping indoor smoking could eat into profits in an industry that is already flailing behind the state’s online casino market. 

On the other, workers have threatened to abandon their posts if they are not treated to fair working conditions. Members of CEASE and other anti-smoking advocates have already held protests against the current allowance of indoor smoking.

“I’ve heard from workers on both sides, people who want the smoking ban, people who don’t, and are worried about business,” said Gov. Sherrill. “I think what we need to do first and foremost is make sure we’re protecting the safety of workers and at the same time ensuring that we have jobs and we’re continuing to grow the economy here.”

The American Lung Association reported that smoking frequency declined by 17 percent from 2017 to 2022. There are still an estimated 29 million active smokers in the U.S.

2026 began with a report that Atlantic City casinos reported 6.7 percent less revenue during December than they did one year before. Despite that, the retail casinos’ yearly revenue total was still up 2.7 percent year-over-year. 

iGaming, meanwhile, grew 22 percent YoY.