By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com
January 30, 2007
Fear of irate smokers is about to trump common sense in Atlantic City.
Faced with a chance to clear the air of deadly tobacco smoke in local casinos, the city council succumbed to pressure from the pro-smoking casino industry and passed a preliminary measure that will limit but not eliminate smoking.
If approved in final form in early February, smoking will be permitted on 25 per cent of Atlantic City casino floors.
That's a greater percentage the number of adults (over age 21) who still smoke in the United States.
New Jerseyans already enjoy smokefree bars and casinos and enjoy the support of anti-tobacco Gov. Jon Corzine and the state legislature.
Because casinos were exempt from the original statewide bill, the matter was left to the City Council of Atlantic City. When the casino industry argued that 3,400 jobs and 20 per cent of its revenues would be jeopardized by a smoking ban, the council accepted a compromise that called for a 75 per cent ban.
The Jersey-based Group Against Smoking Pollution (GASP) and other opponents objected, citing the recent report by the U.S. Surgeon General that passive tobacco smoke is carcinogenic even in limited quantities.
Regina Carlson, founder and executive director of the group, said breathing in a nonsmoking section offers no protection from smoke that happens to seep into that area.
Atlantic City Councilman Dennis Mason disagreed, stating that new casino smoking areas would be walled off from floor to ceiling and topped by ventilation systems that suck smoke out of the air.
Experts on the issue, as well as scientific studies, have shown such ventilation systems to be inadequate. In addition, air recirculated by heating and cooling systems would be filled with the secondhand tobacco smoke found deadly to nonsmokers.
Potential loss of jobs and revenues -- cited by bars and restaurants in big cities considering smoking bans -- have not materialized. In fact, both New York and Los Angeles reported gains in jobs, revenues, and customers because nonsmokers unable or unwilling to appear previously became new patrons.
Though 16 states and hundreds of municipalities have banned smoking in public places, most gambling venues have managed to wriggle free of such regulations. Some, like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in otherwise-smokefree Connecticut, stand on Native American land not bound by state jurisdiction.
Las Vegas showrooms have gone smokefree but not the city's fabled casinos. A smoking ban in Atlantic City casinos would be the largest in any American gambling destination.
