Smoking Ban In Atlantic City Casinos Could Be On Its Way Back

Atlantic City casino owners have cried their way to getting what they wanted in New Jersey. They wanted smoking on their casino floors, and the powers that be caved and allowed the smoking. Now, lawmakers in the state may be changing their stance once again.

A Bill will be introduced next week that would stop all smoking on casino floors. Currently casinos can have smoking in twenty five percent of the casino floors, but some believe the casino owners are taking advantage of that law.

"I think the joke has been on the public. Casinos have not complied with even the 75/25 standard. Casinos can't be trusted with the 75/25 rule," said Senator Joseph Vitale. While no vote is yet scheduled on the new Bill, Vitale believes it will move along swiftly.

The Bill has seventeen sponsors that are outraged with the lack of cooperation the law has received from casino owners. The casinos may have won the battle in the short term, but their unwillingness to comply is what has led to this latest Bill.

"It's sad that they would put profits before the health of their workers. We don't do it anywhere else in a work site, and we shouldn't do it here,' said Vitale.

One of the sticking point for the new legislation is competitive balance. Lawmakers have called on Pennsylvania to make similar smoking laws to keep everybody on an even playing field.

Pennsylvania, however, appears ready to go the other way. They recently changed their limits on smoking from twenty five to fifty percent for casino floors.

February 26, 2009
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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