Atlantic City Ban is a Go

Michael Moretti
Posted: February 9, 2007

Atlantic City gamblers could have less room to puff very soon. The city council this week gave final approval to extend New Jersey's smoking ban to casino gambling floors.

If signed by Mayor Robert W. Levy Sr., the ban would go into effect on April 15 and eliminate smoking from 75 percent of the gambling floors in the city's 11 casinos, which include the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, Caesars Atlantic City and the Trump Taj Mahal. The other 25 percent of the floor would remain smoker-friendly, allowing smokers to stay inside and light up while they play. Per the measure, smoking sections would have to be walled off from the rest of the casino floor and equipped with their own air filtration system.

When the state's smoking ban, called the Clean Indoor Air Act, was passed in January 2006, it exempted gambling floors. The exemption was granted because of the casinos' fears of revenue losses and competition from tribal gaming hot spots in Connecticut and New York State. The exemption has been a bone of contention with advocates of the ban and with other hospitality businesses in the state that came under the umbrella of the law.

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