Atlantic City Council Feels Pressure to Keep Casino Smoking Ban

Word of mouth is that the casinos haven't suffered lost business in the days since the ban went into effect.

Atlantic City casinos had recently appealed to the City Council, asking that the impending smoking ban be put off due to economic hardship. Their point was that revenues were already in a spiraling decline, and institution of smoking laws were likely to cause income drops of ten percent or more.

After much debate, the council voted by a five-to-four margin to postpone the implementation of the smoking ban for a year. However, the ban was scheduled to start October 15th, and because of the late date of the reconsideration, the earliest the new date could be confirmed was Monday, October 27th.

The result is that the no-smoking law went into effect last week, and now anti-smoking advocates are pressing the council to stick to the original plan.

Word of mouth is that the casinos haven't suffered lost business in the days since the ban went into effect. Therefore, supporters argue, there is no reason to delay permanent implementation.

Employees at Atlantic City casinos say they find business the same since the ban began, even in areas that permitted smoking before. They have asked that the ban be left in place.

However, no empirical data has yet been available from the casinos. Until actual hard figures can be examined, only guesswork is available.

It is certain the City Council would like to see casino revenue totals before making a final decision. Otherwise, they are gambling on biased accounts from both perspectives.