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New Jersey judge orders new trial for challenge to casino smoking ban exemption
A lawsuit seeking to erase New Jersey casinos' ability to designate smoking sections of their properties will move forward under an appellate court order.
An appellate court in New Jersey has found fault with a 2024 superior court ruling challenging a state law that allows casinos in Atlantic City to designate up to 25% of their gaming floors as smoking areas. The appellate court has ordered the superior court to rehear the case that could influence a point of contention in New Jersey's gaming industry.
Appeals court orders new trial in smoking ban exemption case
The appellate court's order in UAW, Region 9 of the U.A.W., and C.E.A.S.E. NJ vs. Murphy, et al focuses on procedures in the superior court's 2024 decision. Primarily, the appellate court holds that the trial court did not give adequate consideration to discovery materials supporting the plaintiffs' arguments.
Those materials focused on research suggesting that the economic impact of banning smoking inside Atlantic City casinos would result in severe losses of revenue for those casinos. In conducting a new trial, the court has been ordered to "make appropriate findings of fact concerning the reliability and credibility of the competing expert projections."
The trial court has only been ordered to rehear the case, giving more consideration to the plaintiffs' arguments. The appellate court did not assert an opinion of its own on the merits of those arguments, but rather that the superior court did not give them appropriate weight in its decision.
Competing reports suggest very different outcomes for the results of this litigation. Any result could have implications for the best online casinos in New Jersey.
Casino smoking ban exemption debate spans multiple segments of New Jersey government
As this case moves forward in New Jersey's court system, the state legislature has also considered proposals to end the exemption to the state's indoor smoking ban that Atlantic City casinos enjoy. New Jersey senators Shirley K. Turner and Joseph F. Vitale have pre-filed S212 for the forthcoming legislative session in Trenton toward that end.
The bill was assigned to the New Jersey Senate's Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee. Previous legislation on the subject has failed to gain approval from the legislature.
However, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherill has stated that she would sign such legislation if it reached her desk. Among the implications under consideration with these bills has been the impact on online casino NJ licensees.
Research the casinos have cited has suggested that ending the casino smoking ban exemption might shift more gaming revenue to iGaming platforms, which include forms of payment like PaySafeCard casinos, as smokers become unable to imbibe as they play. However, competing research has suggested that the casinos would benefit from the absence of smoking, as some people who currently choose to redeem offers like the Borgata Casino promo code would visit Atlantic City casinos if they were smoke-free.
That competing framing for the issue is what the superior court and legislators in New Jersey must weigh as the conversation moves forward. For the superior court's part, deeper introspection is court-ordered.
Written by Derek Helling
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