Despite a desire for non-smoking spaces, casinos are still hesitant to make their guests leave their machines or tables to indulge in smoking. (Image: Stephen Barnes / Alamy)

New Jersey casino workers on Thursday staged a silent protest that left an unpleasant stink in the air. 

Seven members of the United Auto Workers, the union that represents casino dealers in Atlantic City, lit up cigarettes in the middle of a committee hearing at the New Jersey State House Annex and blew their smoke toward legislators.  

“We're not allowed to smoke in your workplace, but you're allowed to smoke in ours?” UAW Regional Director Daniel Vicente asked.

Bill’s Chances Go Up in Smoke

The bill at issue sought to eliminate the casino exemption to New Jersey’s 2006 Clean Air Act, which prohibits smoking in virtually all indoor spaces, including the State House Annex. 

“It's OK for secondhand smoke to be blown in our faces all day, every day,” Vicente said after state police escorted him and the other smokers out of the building. “We wanted to know if it's OK if we did that in their workplace.”

Originally there was a vote slated for Thursday, but the night before it got canceled, when the sponsor came to understand that his bill, S 1878, was dead-on-arrival without input from powerful casino companies in New Jersey. 

State Sen. Vince Polistina (R-Atlantic City) promised to write a new bill that considers casino-industry interests and thus could pass. He said he expected to introduce that bill in 2024, before the next legislative session.

Non-smoking activists balked at the suggestion of allowing casinos to have fully-enclosed smoking rooms as a solution.

Could Casinos Ever Go Non-Smoking?

It’s an issue that years ago seemed like it wouldn’t stand a chance. Now there seems to be a shift in momentum, with anti-smoking efforts in casinos gaining steam. However, supporters of fresh-air initiatives learned Thursday that there are many legislative hurdles to overcome. 

New Jersey's public smoking law specifically exempts casinos — something that workers have long sought to change.

And while New Jersey casinos claim that they will lose business and jobs to casinos in Pennsylvania and other neighboring states if they go fully non-smoking, Pennsylvania lawmakers likewise are pushing a bill to close a similar casino loophole in their state’s indoor smoking ban. 

Similar initiatives to eliminate smoking have popped up in Las Vegas, too. 

Casino giant MGM Resorts is experimenting with the notion, running Park MGM as completely non-smoking. Other casinos, including the Plaza downtown, have expanded their non-smoking areas and are seeing positive results. 

The Park MGM in Las Vegas is showing that a no-smoking casino option can survive, despite claims to the contrary. (Image: courtesy of MGM Resorts)

"As we looked toward our reopening,” Park MGM COO Anton Nikodemus said in 2020, “we identified an opportunity to be responsive to recurring guest demand for a fully non-smoking casino resort on The Strip.” 

And the property hasn’t looked back. 

Likewise, nearly 20 years ago poker rooms faced huge backlash for trying to curtail smoking at their tables. Now most agree that the record numbers we are currently seeing in live tournaments worldwide – with thousands of players in one room at a time – wouldn’t be possible if players were still allowed to smoke at the tables. 

The American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation has a growing list of gaming properties around the country that don’t allow smoking.