Donald Trump Wants Casinos to Sue Against Smoking Ban

Perhaps once the city council sees how the tax revenues from casinos continues to plummet, they might revisit this most unwise decision.

In response to the city council of Atlantic City passing a smoking ban for casino floors, Donald Trump called on the eleven licensed casinos to sue. Trump, owner of three of the eleven gambling meccas in the New Jersey city, pushed the state Casino Association to battle the new law in court.

Trump argued that a smoking ban will only exacerbate the economic troubles currently besetting the Atlantic City gaming industry. Nearby Pennsylvania slot parlors have already taken customers from the big casinos, and that chuck of business only promises to get larger, as smoking in the Pennsylvania locations continues to be allowed.

A partial smoking ban went into effect in April, when smoking areas of the casino floor were effectively limited to 25% or less of the gambling area. But non-smoking fanatics insisted that lack of enclosure meant that an occasional waft of smoke might penetrate the wondrously clean New Jersey air for which they so yearned, and a total ban was demanded.

The new law will go into effect in October, at which point the only smoking allowed on casino floors will be in gambling-free fully enclosed smoking lounges.

Trump noted that he was not a smoker, nor did he approve of the health risks caused by smoking, but still wished to please his potential patrons. He stated of the new law, "But this puts us at a huge disadvantage." 

Anti-smoking advocates seem very similar in attitude to anti-gambling fanatics: each is determined to control not only their own behavior, but that of others as well. Perhaps once the city council sees how the tax revenues from casinos continues to plummet, they might revisit this most unwise decision.