That's 100 percent too much for Hal Smith, a Caesars craps player who complained about the change, and the smell of smoke, as he waited for a bus home to Media, Pa. He started smoking Pall Malls at 15 but hasn't taken a puff in 40 years, and now, "I don't like the smell of it," the 71-year-old said.

Smith believes casinos' economic leverage makes it unlikely a full ban will ever return, even though he said many dealers would applaud such a move.

"It's not fair at all, but they're paying so much money, that's why (the casinos) can get away with it," said Smith, a frequent weekend visitor.

So far this year, the casinos have won $3.9 billion, down 6.6 percent from the same period last year. This year will be the second in a row that revenues have declined in Atlantic City, after 28 years of consecutive increases.

Besides the worsening national economy, Atlantic City is fighting fierce competition from slots parlors in Pennsylvania and New York, which have only partial restrictions on smoking. The Indian-run casinos in Connecticut place no restrictions on smoking.

Voters in Maryland just approved 15,000 slot machines, which could further eat into Atlantic City's customer base.

Judy Ordway is accustomed to smoking at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, where the Plaistow, N.H., resident often plays. She'll sometimes consider playing in a smoke-free area, but Ordway said having both options is a practical concern for many gamblers.

"I don't mind once in a while sitting at a nonsmoking machine," Ordway said at her seat in a Tropicana slots section. "But when you have the urge for a cigarette, you've got to pull your money out and go where there's smoking."

J. Carlos Tolosa, eastern division president of Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which owns four casinos here, said it will take time for Atlantic City casinos to gain back their smoking customers who have taken their business elsewhere over the past month.

"I don't think it will happen all at one time," he said. "I think it will be gradual."

Likewise Mark Juliano, CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts, predicted a slow return to normalcy.

"At least now we're back on an even playing field," he said.

Staten Island resident Joe Romano watched football in Trump Plaza while his wife played three-card poker, and he recalled his children successfully hounding him into giving up smoking 27 years ago.

Romano doesn't mind smoke in a room as large as an average gaming floor, but a smoker in the next seat would be enough to make him move, he said.

A few slot-machine clusters away was Mariam Kambala, a 43-year-old vacationer from Senegal spending her first day in a casino. She gave up smoking at 32 when she had surgery.

Smoking restrictions are unknown in Senegal, Kambala said, but she thinks they should be put to public referendum here: "It's up to the people what they want."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

E-mail Eric Scott Campbell:

ECampbell@pressofac.com