As Governor Phil Murphy prepared last week to deliver his annual State of the State address, a group of Atlantic City casino workers fighting to end indoor smoking released a video titled “State of Casino Workers’ Health,” calling on lawmakers to pass bipartisan legislation by April 15 to eliminate the exemption in New Jersey’s Clean Indoor Air Act that permits smoking inside casinos.
In the video, the co-founders and co-leaders of Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE), Pete Naccarelli, Nicole Vitola and Lamont White, deliver a message to legislators that it’s time to move bipartisan bills to end casino indoor smoking. Murphy has said he will sign such a bill into law should it reach his desk.
“We are calling on the legislature to send a bill to Governor Murphy’s desk to close the casino smoking loophole by April 15,” Naccarelli said in the video. “This date marks 17 years since the Clean Indoor Air Act took effect for most indoor workplaces—except for casinos. This makes us essentially the only group of workers in the state forced to choose between our health and a paycheck… The state of our health is poor, and it’s past time for the state to address it.”
“Too many of us have been dealt diagnoses of cancer, heart disease, asthma and more,” said Vitola in the video. “We’ve had to breathe this poison through pregnancies, while receiving treatment for cancer, and while wondering what exactly is happening to our health as yet another smoker lights up three feet in front of us, not giving a damn about our well-being.
“Twenty-three of 40 senators are co-sponsoring S264. Fifty-one of 80 assembly members are co-sponsoring A2151. These bills will pass easily. The only remaining hurdle is leadership. The legislature has the power to save lives by urging action on a popular bill that a strong majority of New Jerseyans support.”
White quoted Murphy, who commented on the issue, “At the end of the day, we will still get good business. Atlantic City is an American gem. We’ve got the ocean and the other competitors don’t. And this is the right thing for our respective health.”
Atlantic City casino operators have said revenues would suffer from a smoking ban, with Casino Association of New Jersey President Mark Giannantonio, CEO of Resorts, commenting to the New York Times in November that a ban should be instituted “at some point,” but “it’s just not the right time.”
A recent poll of New Jersey residents found that most favor keeping the casino smoking exemption under current rules, which permit smoking on 25 percent of casino floors.
