New Jersey lawmakers to consider bill to ban smoking in Atlantic City casinos

A New Jersey committee will hold a hearing on the proposed smoking ban this week.

US.- The New Jersey Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee will hold a hearing this week to discuss a proposed law that would ban smoking in Atlantic City’s casinos. Atlantic City casino workers have been pushing for approval of the bill. 

Smoking is allowed at Atlantic City casinos as an exemption from the New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act of 2006. Senate Bill 264, which aims to close the casino smoking loophole, has been sitting in the New Jersey State House for more than a year. Governor Phil Murphy has said that he would sign such a bill.

The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing in Trenton on Thursday. The Senate bill has 26 sponsors and the Assembly version has 57. The legislation was introduced in January 2022 by senators Joseph Vitale and Shirley Turner and has bipartisan support.

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Smoking at casinos was temporarily banned at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020 but was permitted again from July 2021. Casinos have largely remained opposed to a ban. The Casino Association of New Jersey, the trade group for Atlantic City’s nine casinos, commissioned a report predicting widespread job losses and revenue declines if smoking were banned. Last year, Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International warned Governor Murphy of “economic challenges”.