What would the 1942 classic film "Casablanca", perhaps the smokiest movie in cinema history, be without the cigarette? Well, if Rick's Cafe were located in New Jersey, it would have to be smoke-free per the New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act, which went into effect this month two years ago. But if Rick transplanted his joint to Atlantic City and reopened it as a glittery casino, then he would have some more, let's say, breathing room.

The 2006 New Jersey law that instituted a smoking ban in all public indoor places included an exception for casinos -- where, to be honest, "public health" has never really been top-of-mind. A proposal last year to ban all casino smoking couldn't withstand strong opposition: the casinos claimed the measure could cost them a fifth of their revenue and cause the elimination of thousands of jobs. It might also improve the "good citizen" reputation of Atlantic City, which would be disastrous for business.

A compromise law was enacted in April, 2006, restricting smoking to no more than a quarter of the casino floor, but this came as little relief to casino workers who still have to work in those smog-alert zones. The House still wins.

"I think it really stinks -- it literally stinks," Rona Bavuso, a cocktail waitress at Harrah's Atlantic City told the AP in February 2007. She said she has suffered ill health effects for years from breathing in second-hand smoke. "Every other restaurant, every other business, every other public place in New Jersey gets to breathe clean air except us."

But tomorrow (Wednesday) evening the Atlantic City Council will vote on an ordinance that would restrict all casino smoking to enclosed "smoking lounges," not unlike the kind most people sprint by in airports.

Source:http://www.casinonews.org/