Workers get support for Atlantic City casino smoking ban
Some Atlantic City casino dealers pushing for a smoking ban have received support from several state lawmakers during a long-awaited hearing on a bill that would end smoking inside the nine casinos
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Atlantic City casino dealers pushing for a smoking ban received support from several state lawmakers Monday at a long-awaited hearing on a bill that would end smoking inside the nine casinos.
Dealers, cocktail servers and other casino workers — some of them with breathing ailments and other health problems they suspect are related to secondhand smoke from casino patrons — testified before a state Senate panel in favor of a law that would close a loophole in the state’s 2006 indoor smoking law. That measure was written specifically to exempt casinos from bans on smoking indoors. Currently, smoking is permitted on 25% of a casino floor in Atlantic City.
Although no action was taken on the bill, numerous lawmakers supported a ban, calling it long overdue.
Whether to ban smoking is one of the most controversial issues not only in Atlantic City casinos, but in other states where workers have expressed concern about secondhand smoke. They are waging similar campaigns in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
