For three decades, Pete Naccarelli has worked as a dealer at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, spending a majority of that time surrounded by cigarette smoke.
He started in the industry at age 18, long before the dangers of secondhand smoke were widely discussed.
“When you’re young, you feel like you’re invincible. You just find a job that pays a decent amount of money and you just roll with it,” Naccarelli said. “As I got older … and had kids, things started to change… when you’re working in the casino business and you deal with secondhand smoke every day, you don’t realize how bad it is.”
That changed after the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily shut down Atlantic City casinos in 2020 and forced a statewide ban on indoor smoking.
When casinos reopened without smoking, workers experienced an 11-month reprieve, which made the return of smoking in July 2021 impossible to ignore.
“The second that they lifted the mandate at midnight that day, they started handing out ashtrays,” Naccarelli said. “Eyes were watering, noses were running. It was really noticeable because your body wasn’t used to it anymore.”
The exigent return of indoor smoking sparked the creation of the Casino Employees Against Smoking’s (Harmful) Effects (CEASE) Facebook group, co-founded by Naccarelli and fellow Borgata dealers Lamont White and Nicole Vitola.
By the end of the first week, there were 500 casino workers in the group, and it grew quickly from there. Now, it’s a nationwide movement with over 3,000 members, along with affiliated groups in other casino states, like Pennsylvania, Indiana, Rhode Island and Illinois.
CEASE has since partnered with Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and the United Auto Workers (UAW), which represents employees at several Atlantic City casinos. The UAW helped secure legal representation for a lawsuit challenging the casino exemption in New Jersey’s 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act.
That law banned indoor smoking in most workplaces but allowed casinos to permit smoking on up to 25% of their gaming floors. Workers argue the exemption exposes them to serious health risks, including cancer, heart disease and respiratory illnesses.
According to NJ Monitor, a Superior Court judge ruled in August 2024 that the state constitution does not establish a right to safety at work, upheld special legislative treatment for Atlantic City casinos and dismissed the workers’ equal protection arguments.
The judge further found that casino employees could look for other jobs and that potential economic harm to the casino industry supported maintaining indoor smoking.
Last month, the New Jersey Appellate Division sent the case back to the trial court, finding that the workers’ challenge had not received a full or fair review.
As reported by NJ Spotlight, the appeals panel said the lower court relied too heavily on casino-funded economic studies and failed to adequately consider competing evidence showing that smoke-free casinos can remain profitable.
The appellate judges also said the trial court applied the wrong legal standard when evaluating the workers’ equal protection claims.
The case now returns to the trial court for additional fact-finding, while a separate constitutional issue may ultimately reach the New Jersey Supreme Court.
“One of our main things is equal protection,” Naccarelli said. “There’s nowhere in New Jersey you can smoke indoors except for casinos.”
As legal and legislative battles continue, CEASE members remain focused on public awareness, behind-the-scenes advocacy, meeting with lawmakers and urging customers to speak out.
Naccarelli said the best way for non-casino workers to show support is by writing letters to the casino executives to let them know they don’t want smoking there and attending rallies.
“It’s only 10% of the population that smokes, so you’re going to lose 90% of those customers. If the 90% starts telling them we’re not coming because we can’t stand the smoke, that helps,” Naccarelli said.
Julia graduated from Rider University in 2024 with a BA in multiplatform journalism and minor in social media strategies. In addition to reporting on local news for Shore Local, she is a social media strategist for small businesses. Connect with her: shorelocaljulia@gmail.com or @juliatrain on Instagram.
