Press Release - January 29th, 2026

Atlantic City, NJ —On January 28th, a New Jersey Appellate Court issued a ruling in the lawsuit brought by casino workers and the United Auto Workers seeking to end the smoking exemption in Atlantic City casinos.

The decision vacates the lower court’s dismissal and remands the case for further proceedings to examine the casino industry’s highly contested claim that Atlantic City will suffer grave economic damage if casinos can’t poison their workers and patrons with secondhand smoke. Meanwhile, the court held that the New Jersey Supreme Court was the appropriate court to rule on the constitutionality of allowing smoking to continue inside casinos, unlike every other workplace in New Jersey. To that end, CEASE and the UAW are prepared to take their fight to the state’s highest court.

“We’re taking this to the New Jersey Supreme Court because no job should come with a health warning,” said Nancy Erika Smith, Esq., of Montclair’s Smith Mullin, representing Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE) and the UAW. “Article 1, Paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution plainly states that all persons ‘have certain natural and unalienable rights,’ including ‘pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.’ By exempting casino workers from the Smoke Free Air Act, the New Jersey legislature has clearly violated this right. The Constitution also prohibits “special favors” for corporations. Exempting casino workers from the NJ Smoke Free Air Act is nothing but a special favor for the tobacco and casino industries.

“For years, the casino industry has hidden behind paid-for ‘studies’ to justify poisoning its employees. A hearing in court will finally expose those economic arguments for what they are: baseless myths designed to scare legislators and delay justice. Our health is not a price we should have to pay for the casino industry’s alleged profits. The law is supposed to protect everyone equally, and it should not allow an exception that lets casinos poison their workers to preserve an outdated and exploitative business model,” said Nicole Vitola, a co-founder of CEASE and a longtime table games dealer in Atlantic City.

“We have a new Governor, who has said she will make workers’ health and safety a priority in her administration. She could take a first step towards this goal by instructing her Attorney General to stop defending this loophole in court and finally protect the health and safety of 6,000 casino workers instead of the industry’s greed,” Vitola said. “CEASE calls on Governor Sherrill, acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, and acting Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard E. Washington to help put an end to this injustice once and for all.”

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Casino Employees Against Smoking (Harmful) Effects (CEASE) is a group of thousands of casino dealers and other frontline gaming workers that formed after indoor smoking returned on July 4, 2021 in Atlantic City, NJ and has expanded to states around the country. CEASE is fighting to permanently remove smoking from our workplaces.

See what casino workers say about working in secondhand smoke: the Real Deal

See what casino workers’ kids say about their moms and dads who work in secondhand smoke: kids of CEASE