Call to End New Jersey Casino Smoking Exemption

Anti-smoking advocates want to terminate a loophole in the state's 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act.

Ziv Chen - News Editor at Covers.com
Ziv Chen • News Editor
Jan 8, 2025 • 15:47 ET • 4 min read
Photo By - Imagn Images.

New Jersey anti-smoking advocates have called for the end of a smoking loophole in the 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act. Despite the law, casinos are exempt, letting players light up indoors. In an op-ed for NJ.com, former state senator Loretta Weinberg said increased pressure from the tobacco industry led to the casino exemption in the ban.

“Eighteen years ago, I was a sponsor of the Smoke-Free Air Act,” Weinberg wrote in her article. “With other legislators, I fought the powerful tobacco industry and the third-party advocates the industry manipulated and mobilized to fight smoking restrictions. Unfortunately, we were unable to pass the Act unless we excluded casino workers from its protections. We simply did not have the votes, so we acquiesced, trying to protect as many people as possible while expecting to close this unjustified loophole in the near future. I never imagined that nearly two decades later, casino workers and patrons would still be subjected to poisonous secondhand smoke.”

A bill to end casino smoking has stalled in the state legislature for years, however, as well as a lawsuit workers brought up in April, which a judge refused. This would have prevented smoking in gambling halls, adding frustration to casino workers.

“It’s horrible when you have three, four, five people blowing smoke in your face,” said Sandy Smolen, a dealer at the Borgata casino for the past five years. “You can’t get away from it. You go home with a cough you didn’t have that morning.” 

Fears of Jersey Revenue Declines are Unwarranted

Weinberg went on to dispute casino operator claims casinos would be heavily affected by a smoking ban, saying they would face closures and revenue drops if this happened.

“We’ve seen it in the 21 states with thriving smoke-free casinos, including every state in our region except Connecticut and Pennsylvania,” she wrote. “In Pennsylvania, the most successful casino is voluntarily smoke-free. And what does it tell you that five of the nine Atlantic City casinos are seeking licenses in smoke-free New York? It means that they know smoke-free is good business.”

November revenue for both casinos and sports betting was successful. New Jersey’s land-based casinos generated $223.9 million, a 4.2% year-on-year increase and a 7.3% month-on-month rise. MGM’s Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa topped the tables with an 11.4% improvement compared to last November. The casino generated $57.6 million in casino wins for November 2024.

In addition, New Jersey iGaming set a new record, reaching $214 million for the month. This was a 24.7% year-on-year increase and marginally beat October’s previous $213.6 million record. Jersey sportsbooks posted a 54% month-on-month November increase, generating $119 million in gross revenue, the states' third-best sports betting hold. 

Is Smoking a Problem for Casinos Nationwide?

The national anti-smoking agency, Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, released an open letter in September, urging lawmakers and regulators across the United States to confront indoor smoking as a responsible gaming issue.

“Allowing smoking on gaming floors not only poses significant health risks to workers and patrons alike, but it also encourages prolonged gambling sessions without breaks – a fundamental tenet of responsible play,” ANR wrote in the letter to states. 

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Ziv Chen
News Editor

Ziv has been deep in the iGaming trenches for over 20 years, long before most people could spell "geolocation compliance." With a background in marketing and business development at some of the biggest names in gambling tech, Ziv knows the industry from the inside out. Since joining Covers, he's turned his sharp eye (and sharper keyboard) toward everything happening in the fast-moving world of online gambling. Whether it's new state launches, the latest twists in regulation, or what the big operators and game providers are cooking up next, Ziv breaks it all down with clarity, context, and just the right amount of snark. He covers the business side of betting, from affiliate trends and revenue reports to the tech powering your favorite slots. His motto in writing is “let’s make it make sense without putting you to sleep.”

When he’s not tracking gambling legislation or looking for the next breaking story, Ziv is living and dying with every pitch and play from his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins. As a Pitt graduate, it’s a city loyalty forged in heartbreak, but one he wouldn’t trade for anything, except maybe a few more playoff wins.

When away from the keyboard, Ziv loves to hit the road and soak up the energy of casinos. Whether strolling the neon jungle called the Vegas Strip, or wandering into a smoky riverboat casino in the Midwest, Ziv’s in his element. He’s the guy chatting with players, blackjack dealers, and asking pit bosses way too many questions, all in the name of “research,” of course. The casino floor isn’t just his workplace, it’s a weird and wonderful ecosystem of flashing lights, wild characters, and pure sensory overload, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

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