ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - AUGUST 29: An elderly woman plays slot machines in a casino on the Atlantic City Boardwalk on August 29 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
After new casinos opened in neighboring states, four of the city's top casinos closed in 2014, l TRENTON, N.J. - 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."It’s immoral for the owners of casinos to think their employees are expendable," said Sen.