A three-judge appellate court in New Jersey listened to arguments about whether or not casino workers in the state have a Constitutional right to breathe smoke-free air.

Casinos in New Jersey are the only public places people can light up cigarettes since a ban was implemented nearly 20 years ago.

The appellate case is the current stage of a saga that started in 2024 when a group of employees formed the Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE). It got the backing of the United Auto Workers, which represents workers at Bally’s, Caesars and Tropicana in Atlantic City, and a lawsuit was filed against the state to force it to end the exemption that allowed the nine casinos in New Jersey to permit smoking.

But a lower court ruling dismissed the case, the judging writing “while the court is sympathetic to the health hazards, it has determined safety is not a fundamental right” under the state constitution.

“The Smoke-Free Air Act does not violate the casino workers’ right to pursue safety,”  Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Bartels wrote in his ruling. “The act places no parameters on a casino worker’s ability to seek work in a smoke-free environment.”

It took until now for this case to wind-up on the appellate’s calendar.

Lawyers for the state of New Jersey, casinos and other casino unions told the judges that because of long-established law prevents courts from undoing legislative action, the change must happen at a legislative level.

They also argued through briefs, that the Legislature “could rationally fear that lifting the exemption can impact jobs in the casinos and the businesses that depend on casinos, and millions in state tax dollars that fund programs assisting disabled residents and senior citizens,”

The attorney for CEASE, Nancy Erika Smith, argued that the employees’ health are protected by law, and that the decisions by the Legislature in 2006 to exempt the casinos was illegal.

“The Constitution gives us the right not to have laws that give special favors to corporations,” she told the judges, according to NJ.com. “The Legislature can’t decide to do special favors for corporations. That’s the law.”

While the opposing lawyers contend that it’s up to the Legislature to decide the issue, at least one appellate judge took issue with the number of years since this has been revisited by lawmakers.

“That’s 20 years ago. It’s a different world. Smoking is different. The studies are different,” Judge Arnold L. Natali Jr. said. “Casinos are everywhere now. The monopoly that exists for gaming in the state has been impacted by online gambling. We just live in a different world.”

Smoking is permitted on 25% of the casino floor in New Jersey, but there’s no question that second-hand smoke and all the poison that comes with it winds-up in every corner of the casino and every lung of the workers who work in the buildings day in and day out.

Casinos and their lobbying groups have long maintained that banning smoking from its properties would have devastating results to bottom lines.

But more and more casinos are going smoke- free, and there are states that out-right ban smoking in casinos. Pennsylvania may be next, as there is currently a bill that would ban smoking in casinos working its way through the sausage machine in Pennsylvania.