Industry News
Four council members are co-sponsors of the measure, and only one more member is needed to pass the law. There are nine members of the city council overall.
The full smoking ban arrives on the first anniversary of the partial smoking ban which took effect April 15, 2007. That limited smoking to 25 percent of the casino floors.
The one-year old law required the 11 casinos to build enclosed smoking structures on their properties, but. thus far, not one of the Atlantic City casinos has built them, according to the state Department of Commmunity Affairs.
Savvy casino operators have said they were waiting to see if a full ban on smoking eventually would be taken up by City Council before committing "millions of dollars" to building the enclosures.
City officials say what they want are smoking lounges that would be just like those found in airports.
A total ban on smoking would apply to casinos that do not build the lounges.
Some casino worker groups have aligned with non-profit health organizations to back the smoking ban.
"The state is continuing to discriminate against us, and we are depending on the City Council to live up to its integrity and obligation of protecting the health, welfare and safety of its citizens," said Nate Chait, a long-time casino employee who works as a table games
Casino operators have argued many of their patrons smoke and that a full ban on smoking would lead to a further erosion of gaming revenue and profit.
Andrew Zarnett, a gambling industry analyst with Deutsche Bank AG in New York, wrote in a note to investors earlier this month that a full smoking ban "would have a detrimental effect on Atlantic City revenues as visitations decline in the short term."
Zarnett blamed a recently enacted full smoking ban in Illinois and a weak national economy for a drop in revenue last month for Illinois casinos.
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