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ATLANTIC CITY - Smoke swirled around Barbara DePierro's head as she used one hand to puff on a cigarette and the other to play a slot machine at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort.

DePierro, a New Yorker, settles into her cigarettes-and-slots routine whenever she comes to Atlantic City and dreads the thought that her gambling pleasures may someday be interrupted by a casino smoking ban.

"I like it the way it is now. If they banned smoking in Atlantic City, I would go to the Indian reservation casinos in Connecticut just to smoke," DePierro vowed as her husband, James, nodded his head in agreement.

A year after Atlantic City delayed a total smoking ban at the request of the powerful gaming industry, city officials are again debating whether the casinos should go smoke-free. City Council backed away from a ban last year amid warnings that smokers would take their business elsewhere, further depressing casino earnings in the soft economy.

But council members also promised then to revisit the issue in a year. Just as it was on Oct. 8, 2008 - when it voted 5-4 to scrap the smoking ban - council remains divided.

The timing of a new vote is unclear. On Friday, the City Clerk's Office released the agenda for the next council meeting on Wednesday and it did not include the smoking ban.

Councilman Dennis Mason argued it would be foolish to prohibit smoking in Atlantic City at a time when cigarette-puffing, cigar-chomping gamblers crowd casinos in other states.

"I'll be happy to support a 100 percent smoking ban if and when casinos in other states enact the same thing," he said. "All we want to be on is equal footing."

Mason supports the current law, which limits smoking to 25 percent of the casino floor. But Councilman Bruce Ward, an anti-smoking advocate, believes a total ban is the best way to protect casino workers and customers from the dangers of secondhand smoke.

"I'd like to see no smoke impacting the health of workers, or customers for that matter," he said.

Ward wants smoking restricted to the airport-style smoking lounges that casinos built off the gaming floor when the smoking ban temporarily went into effect for two weeks last year, before it was repealed.

Casinos complained that business declined dramatically during the two weeks of no smoking. Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of the three Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. casinos, predicted that a smoking ban now would be catastrophic. He said the current law for casino smoking is a good compromise.

"We know we have plenty of statistics to show that a complete smoking ban would be a disaster," Juliano said. "As far as the status quo is concerned, we seem to think it is working for both customers and employees. It has become quite manageable for us."

The Casino Association of New Jersey, the trade group representing the gaming industry, said that thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue could be lost if customers flee Atlantic City for smoke-friendly casinos in surrounding states.

"Since the economy has continued to deteriorate and our regional competitors continue to permit smoking in their casinos, the ability to continue to allow smoking on a portion of our casino floors is essential to avoid a further deterioration of our local economy," Joseph A. Corbo Jr., the association's president, said in a statement.

Stressing the health dangers of smoking, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society are urging City Council to approve a total ban. They noted that New Jersey's 2006 Smoke Free Air Act protects the state's entire work force, with the exception of Atlantic City's casino employees.

"The American Heart Association believes it is time to offer casino employees the same protection that all other New Jersey workers enjoy," Corinne Wisniewski, director of advocacy for the heart association, said in a statement to council members.

Local 54 of UNITE-HERE, Atlantic City's largest casino union, argued that a smoking ban should be delayed for at least another year, while the economy recovers from the recession, to preserve jobs that might otherwise be lost if business sinks further.

"My membership clearly, without any ambiguity at all, is petrified of a 100 percent smoking ban," said Bob McDevitt, union president. "It could close the doors of casinos operating right now. ... To do something like that at this point in time, with all of the other challenges Atlantic City has, would be suicide."

Hardly surprising, casino customers are split on the issue. Smokers claim they have every right to light up, while nonsmokers say they don't want to be bothered by secondhand smoke.

"I can sit in the nonsmoking section and gamble or I can go in the smoking area and have a cigarette. I want that option," Marie Balandis, a 71-year-old smoker from Utica, N.Y., said while playing a slot machine in a nonsmoking section of Trump Taj Mahal.

A few yards away from Balandis, 22-year-old Lissette Jones, a respiratory care major at Long Island University, was also playing a slot machine in the nonsmoking section.

"I don't like smoking," Jones said. "When you walk through a smoking area and smell it, it's very irritating. I would like to see a smoking ban."

Then there are the DePierros, the New Yorkers who threaten never to come back to Atlantic City if a smoking ban is approved. Holding a pair of cigars, James DePierro gazed over his wife's shoulder while she smoked and played the slot machine.

"Smoking, drinking and gambling go together," he said. "If we can't do it here, then we'll go do it at the casinos in Connecticut."

Staff writer Emily Previti contributed to this report.

Contact Donald Wittkowski:

609-272-7258

DWittkowski@pressofac.com

57 comments:

• ACBT54 (16) posts 7:41 am

  Ask any cocktail waitress or bartender or slot attendent what sections are the busiest? Any one who tells the truth will tell you the smoking sections are 3 to 5 times busier than non smoking. Leave it like it is

• WeLoveAC (3) posts 12:17 am

  To BeachOne ...On average we spent 4-5 Thousand each trip to Atlantic City. This included Eating Shopping and gambling.

• beachone (25) posts 2:32 pm

  To "we love AC". You stated that you stopped going to AC because of the lack of comps, how much more do you expect. I live 7 hours from AC and visit maybe 4 times per year and I have yet to pay for a casino hotel room. I spend very little on slots or regular table games, what I do spend it on ia at the poker tables (a game where the house does not have the odds). In June and August I spent 5 days aech time in AC with free hotel rooms, free meals and parking. If you expect free hotel rooms and free meals and show tickets you are not going to get them playing .20 per pull on a penny slot machine. This about typical of those who spend $25.00 and complain that they didnt hit a jackpot. Believe it or not the casinos do not like your business, they lose money just by you using their water and toilet facilities. You have to spend more than $25.00 a visit, "they cut down on comps, give me a break"! For those who live in Pa and talk smoke free you better not hope for much because table games can be placed in smoking or non smoking sections. b1

• snowbird (2) posts 11:47 am

  There has never been a single study showing that exposure to the low levels of smoke found in bars and restaurants with decent modern ventilation and filtration systems kills or harms anyone. As to the annoyance of smoking, a compromise between smokers and non-smokers can be reached, through setting a quality standard and the use of modern ventilation technology. Air ventilation can easily create a comfortable environment that removes not just passive smoke, but also and especially the potentially serious contaminants that are independent from smoking. Thomas Laprade

• BernieSchwartz (464) posts 9:08 am

  We have bigger things to worry about, like the viability of this City. Business is continuing to fall ask any casino employee.

• PennsylvaniaSucks (93) posts 8:32 am

  LOL- the majority of these messages are coming from the same person using many different alias names. GET A LIFE, SMOKING NAZI! If they ban smoking in AC, there won't be any more casinos!! WAKE UP!

• MrWhite (94) posts 8:30 am

  Allure45, your argument makes no sense.First of all,the right to carry is gauranteed by the Constitution. It is up to the casinos to decide if they want people with guns allowed. Tainted meat is a violation of health codes, as well as a violation of contract. A customer expects any food the casinos offer not to make them sick. If it does, the law provides plenty of cvil recourses for those who consume tainted food. It is in the casinos best interest to serve quality food,economically,and legally. Accomidation of blacks is protected by the Constitution as well. As for tobacco, it is a legal consumer product not protected by the Constitution. If a casino wishes to ban tobacco, then they should without interference. The same cuts both ways if a casino wishes to allow smoking in their privatly owned places of operation.

• ericdagreat (15) posts 4:28 am

  McDevitts people are "petrified"...becuz that is what Mr Corbo told him to say. We all know why he is playing this game........scare tactics. Hello???? 1,000 employees were let go last sept and there was full ban, same this sept. Stop playing the blame game and wise up that the health issue has nothing to do with the economy or job losses.

• russelcruz (3) posts 11:23 pm

  with 4,000 toxic chemicals, including poison in one cigarette, there is NO SAFE LEVEL of secondhand smoke. BAN IT!!

• essyma (28) posts 10:23 pm

  helen from PA and the others who wrote very good letters about smokefreecasinos, please write to city council and go to city council mtgs too and voice your opinion. email council president william marsh wmarsh@cityofatlanticcity.org and other councilmen, just add @cityofatlanticcity.org to these names... smoore dmason gtibbitt tmancuso bward jschultz erobinson msmall

• Helen from PA (1) posts 10:02 pm

  Casinos are the last toxic workplaces. Until all or at least adjoining states work together to ban smoking in all work places including casinos, it will never work. If you want to see smokefree casinos that work, visit Niagara Falls Ontario. Smoking is banned in every area of the two casinos there, yet they are always packed. Outdoor smoking areas are provided for those who must have a smoke. IT WORKS!! Perhaps the American Cancer Society and other various organizations that cover more than one state could organize and work towards smokefree casinos in all states, thus providing a level playing field. The most important thing here is the health of the workers. I dompletely agree with TurboDan that the young people are not visiting casinos because of the smoke. They are the potential players of tomorrow, but not if they are risking their health.

• WeLoveAC (3) posts 10:02 pm

  We live in Pa. Halfway Between Mohegan Sun Wilkes Barre,Pa and Hollywood Casino Harrisburg Pa. and go to both often. We do not go to AC Monthly anymore. We would go to AC More often if there was NO SMOKING. We have not been to AC since Dec 2008. One of the reasons is because the Casinos cut back on Comps. Is there some type of Air Filtration system that would remove all of the smoke and everyone would be happy?

• ericdagreat (15) posts 9:19 pm

  Non-smokers have tolerated the secondhand smoke for so long, they have gotten used to it, but no more. They and casino employees deserve the same rights as every other new jerseyan afforded smokefree workplaces and indoor places across the state. smokers rights ends at our noses!

• VoiceOfReason (2) posts 8:07 pm

  The only constructive post that made any sense, and not simply made to take cheap shots, was the post made by TurboDan. This forum needs more constructive credible comments like TurboDan's.

• anthcaruso8 (15) posts 7:43 pm

  IF U WANT TO SEE A BUNCH OF LIARS AT CITY COUNCIL MTG ON WED AND PROTEST THEM, COME SEE THE CLOWN ACT OF MCDEVITT, CORBO AND COMPANY AS THEY LIE THEIR WAY TO SCARING EMPLOYEES (WE KNOW BETTER, BUT LOCAL 54 DOESN'T!) INTO FEAR AND MORE LIES ABOUT A FULL SMOKING BAN, SHOW UP ON WED. SEE SCHULTZ AND MASON AND SMALL LIE AND LIE AND LIE. THE TRUTH SHALL COME OUT SOON! NO SMOKING!

• ericdagreat (15) posts 7:09 pm

  IF THE DEPIERROS WANT TO TAKE THEIR SMOKING HABIT TO CONNECTICUT, GO AHEAD, WE DONT NEED YOU. THERE ARE MANY MANY MORE NON SMOKERS WHO CAN PICK UP THE SLACK, LIKE TURBO DAN, WHO IS IN HIS 20'S AND HATES SMOKING. AND WE HOPE HE TELLS COUNCIL THIS AND MR CORBO AND MR JULIANO WHO THINK THEY KNOW IT ALL. AND NO, MR JULIANO, THE EMPLOYEES AND PATRONS ARE NOT!!!! OKAY WITH THE CURRENT CONFIGURATION. YOU ARE OKAY WITH IT, WITH YOUR NON-ENFORCEMENT.

• PcFlower (9) posts 5:28 pm

  It would be nice if smoking was limited to Slot machines only, and Table Games employees did'nt have to have the smoke have the smoke right in their faces....at least a Slot Machine can't get Lung Cancer. I mean if they're going to continue the 25/75, at least try and protect the workers that are directly effected. Besides the fact that the dealers earn below minumum wage and pay a huge portion for health care and copays

• PcFlower (9) posts 5:28 pm

  It would be nice if smoking was limited to Slot machines only, and Table Games employees did'nt have to have the smoke have the smoke right in their faces....at least a Slot Machine can't get Lung Cancer. I mean if they're going to continue the 25/75, at least try and protect the workers that are directly effected. Besides the fact that the dealers earn below minumum wage and pay a huge portion for health care and copays

• commonscense (2) posts 4:33 pm

  You are damned if you do and damned if you don't. AC is going downhill fast. Other casinos are opening elsewhere and people have options. They won't get raped for parking fees, high entertainment admissions fees and attitudinal workers. Soon we will be the city of last resort. I would not want to be in city council's shoes at this moment. Speaking of city council, it is obvious that Gene R. is not coming back. We need that additional vote. His spot needs to be filled ASAP. An employer would not allow an employee to be absent with pay for 6 months due to disability. Why is Atlantic City? He is eligible for Medicare benefits at this point as well as SSD. He does not need additional stressors that the council person's position brings. We pray for him to get through this and the trial.

• allure45 (22) posts 4:26 pm

  MrWhite ! ! ! : Do you think the Casinos can allow people to bring in guns ? Or serve tainted food ? Or keep blacks out ? Thats what laws are for , to protect people from bad decisions .

• allure45 (22) posts 4:26 pm

  MrWhite ! ! ! : Do you think the Casinos can allow people to bring in guns ? Or serve tainted food ? Or keep blacks out ? Thats what laws are for , to protect people from bad decisions .

• allure45 (22) posts 4:17 pm

  It is insane that we even have to discuss whether or not people can burn tobacco and fill the indoor air with 200+ dangerous (and dirty + stinky)chemicals because they have a nicotine addiction . In addition this smoking poses an increased risk of spreading the swine flu ! Smokers who wish to smoke in indoor settings are inconsiderate drug addicts and should not be accomodated .

• CharlieD6 (18) posts 3:04 pm

  "I can sit in the nonsmoking section and gamble or I can go in the smoking area and have a cigarette. I want that option," Marie Balandis, a 71-year-old smoker from Utica, N.Y., said while playing a slot machine in a nonsmoking section of Trump Taj Mahal. A few yards away from Balandis, 22-year-old Lissette Jones, a respiratory care major at Long Island University, was also playing a slot machine in the nonsmoking section. "I don't like smoking," Jones said. "When you walk through a smoking area and smell it, it's very irritating. I would like to see a smoking ban." Who does AC want in the casino, grandma who is going to die in a few days from her smoke or the 22 year old who will be around for a long time?????????????????

• BernieSchwartz (464) posts 2:27 pm

  For City Council to even have a say in this is a joke. People, AC needs full smoking!! In case you haven't heard business is way down and layoffs continue. In fact, they should lay off the casino employees who complain about the smoking first.

• nemartin (5) posts 1:46 pm

  At the very least, the council should require the "full implementation" of the 75/25 split. Under the original legislation, the smoking areas were to be fully enclosed, and separately ventilated. The council screwed this up by never setting formal deadlines for compliance with this aspect of the legislation.

• tommyboy (1) posts 12:57 pm

  just do it! people can"t light up around strangers anywhere in new jersey with the exception of our casinos. this segment of society is growing smaller each year. this tolerance of smoking by casino execs is once again just poor judgement on their part. just look at their track record of other issues in the past 5 years.do it and put a positive spin on it,come on you guys know all about that. don't you?

• MrWhite (94) posts 12:09 pm

  Before people start calling for a state smoking ban in the casinos, consider this. The first question a lover of liberty would ask is "Who owns the property?" The first question a statist will ask is "How can the governemnt enforce my whims?". The decision to allow smoking should be up to the property owners only.

• essyma (28) posts 12:00 pm

  good for you turbodan, that is great post! and mr corbo and co. may think they are winning this fight; but those who have to tolerate the secondhandsmoke are the ones who lose out and the casinos lose out too for ignoring the health and welfare of its own patrons too.

• TurboDan (7) posts 11:49 am

  I'm in my 20s. None of my friends gamble much when they're in A.C. because they hate sitting there and breathing in the smoke. It works both ways. Have the casino bosses ever wondered why none of the young people who go to the casinos actually gamble? We usually go to the concerts, see the bands, go to bars/clubs, restaurants, etc. Being on the casino floor is like a throwback to 1975. If they want to make gambling attractive to the next generation, they shouldn't make it miserable for us by having smoke so thick it burns your eyes. Until they ban smoking, I will never spend a cent gambling in an A.C. casino.

• essyma (28) posts 11:04 am

  Topdown...u are so right!! why don't any one of them mention the health of the patrons or employees? they are all fakes and raking in millions. During the oct/nov smoking ban (RESTRICTED BAN with lounges), table games were only down 2 and 3%, then in Dec when the restricted ban went back to 75%, the revenue losses skyrocketed to 19%!! The PRESS didn't report that did they? Nor do they report the 80% of patrons who don't smoke and dont want smoking in the casinos. Don W and the press only reports on the smokers. shame shame shame on you!!

• marylouf (2) posts 10:45 am

  Yeah, RandomX, that 1 low roller smoker, (relative of Mr Wittkowski most likely) is really fighting off the crowds. 20 years in casino industry and see the slot players go to the non-smoking areas, just like 80% of the non-smoking tables. Oh, yeah, aren't the poker rooms 100% smokefree? and packed??! uh huh keep bashing Councilman Ward.....he is the only one with sense along with President Marsh and Moore. We all know Small and Smoker Mason and sleazy Schultz are on the take.

• topdown (10) posts 10:38 am

  Why does the AC Press keep insisting that the 100% smoking ban lasted 2 weeks when it lasted 4 weeks? Why do they continue to say that the ban hurt business whan business actually improved during the full ban? Why do smokers keep saying that nonsmokers want them to stop skoking wnen all we want is for them go go somewhere like a smoking lounge so that we are not exposed to the deadly toxins that they emit? Why do people like Joe Corbo, Bob McDevett, and Mark Juliano keep insisting that a 100% smoking ban would be bad for business when there is so much proof that it would do the exact opposite? Why do nonsmoking customers continue to put up with being exposed to the deadly toxins found in 2nd hand smoke that the American Medical Association has stated kills over 50,000 nonsmokers in this countey every year? The answer my friend is blowing in the (smoky) wind. The answer in blowing in the wind.

• marylouf (2) posts 10:34 am

  RandomX856 : that is so wrong...the NON SMOKING SLOT AREAS Are crowded and wonderful except when some smoker has to come into it and ruin things!! Where do u play at the SANDS?? That is why it is empty. For your information, if you happened to be in the casinos during the 32 glorious days of the full ban oct 15 to nov16th, the places were mobbed and nobody complained, except a few losers like you!!

• Nunya- (80) posts 10:34 am

  Nicky is a czar....Hey Nicky what happened with you and Pat???

• deedee (2) posts 10:27 am

  Here we go again, AC is dying more and more each year, why would you people want to cripple it even more? Jobs, well the dealers are lucky they still even have a job when unemployment is at its highest in this state, but keep on whining and crying about the smokers and when cuts come which they will now that summer is over you will be the first to go. You should be fighting the tobacco companies tell them to stop making tobacco products but no they make too much money off of the smokers. Everyone has rights but you Nazis want it all your way. We will all sit by and watch AC die if they put this ban in, there are other choices now not just AC, so you all better hope you still have jobs in the AC area because you will push people to go elsewhere.

• RandomX856 (61) posts 10:24 am

  NikyNewark, if you have ever set foot inside an AC casino since the smoking ban has been enforced, you will know that the non-smoking slot areas are usually completely EMPTY. The few customers that A.C. still gets play in the SMOKING section.

• zebra2 (86) posts 10:05 am

  I think Barrack needs to appoint a smoking czar! This country is doomed!

• Nikynewark (75) posts 10:04 am

  Ban smoking. Very few smoke today and they will continue to boycott or avoid any place allowing it. The 25% does not work because the smoke spreads. Interesting thing about the photo. 12 machines and ONE smoking person. Keep those numbers up and AC will be dead in a year. Yonkers is smoke free. Monticello smoke free. Delaware smoke free. When Aquaduct opens, I hope with Steve Wynn at the helm, it will be smoke free. Even Mohegan Sunn has greatly expanded non smoking areas.

• executioner1 (168) posts 10:02 am

  FREEDOM!

• Nunya- (80) posts 9:59 am

  Is Gene Robinson going to vote on this one?? Just build a glass box around the dealers, pump in fresh air and sunshine. Bring up the heat to about 80, it'll feel like the Bahamahs....Then the dealers will cry , its too hot and sunny...Go to work , get your "tokes" and zip it...

• poboywillie (16) posts 9:36 am

  Smokers who gamble are risk taking people. But they lose. Always. The deck is stacked against them. Lose their money lose their life. Losing money is bad enough but sevening out from lung disease is a rotten way to die. Sharing a smokers habit is just wrong in a casino or anywhere. It stinks in more ways than one.

• russelcruz (3) posts 8:06 am

  SMALL, MASON, SCHULTZ ARE ALL IN CA$INO$ POCKET$. WE ALL KNOW THAT. THEY KEEP VOTING FOR WHATEVER THE CA$INO$ TELL THEM. tHE SMOKING BAN SHOULD BE DONE WITH AS COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD ARE SMOKEFREE AND THIS TINY CITY CANNOT FIND IT TO DO THE RIGHT THING?? HOPE MCDEVITT CHOKES ON HIS GUM!!!!!!!

• russelcruz (3) posts 7:40 am

  NO SAFE LEVEL OF SECONDHAND SMOKE. CRY BABY SMOKERS CAN GO INTO LOUNGES AND KILL THEMSELVES WITH THEIR NASTY HABITS. DEALERS ARE BETTER OFF WITHOUT SMOKING; BETTER TOKES, HEALTHIER LIFE, HEALTHIER WORKPLACE, CASINOS SAVE ON HEALTH CARE COSTS. YEAH, RIGHT, THEY ARE ALL GOING TO CONNECTICUT?? IT IS FRIGGIN 5 HOURS AWAY....TO DO WHAT? SMOKE? A CASINO ISN'T THERE FOR SMOKING. SMOKE IN YOUR OWN HOUSE.

• antramps (2) posts 7:00 am

  The current law, which limits smoking to 25 percent of the casino floor, is like a swimming pool allowing 25 percent of the pool open for peeing. Would you swim in it?

• roller137 (205) posts 6:51 am

  I am a non-smoker. what gets lost here, is that we no longer look at our customers as a source of revenue. we have almost succeeded in killing the golden goose in Atlantic City. Workers have a right not to be near smoke, but customers also deserve a right to have a designated area, and not be treated like social outcasts while we try to lift their wallets. Soon they will be smoking tax-free indian tobacco, while they enjoy their vices without enduring any social engineering laws.

• anthcaruso8 (15) posts 6:37 am

  Many of our friends play at borgata and you can smell the stench of the smoke drifting from the smoking areas. At harrahs too, they line up smoking right near non-smoking slots. How healthy is that?? Pretty bad. The non-smokers have been putting up with this crap for so many years, it is high time the cancerous smokers have to tolerate NO SMOKING for a change. Yes, change is coming. snuff em out

• anthcaruso8 (15) posts 6:30 am

  ******** such an absurd statement by McDevitt to say it will be suicide for the casinos. Instead of being all gloom and doom, realize that banning smoking has worked everywhere in the country and the world. From public places to casinos in Delaware, NY, Missouri and many more. What is it that you don't want? To help save lives? Talk about job loss? the casinos lay off all the time, smoking or not! Talk about making better revenues? Last fall the toke rates were higher then during the partial ban, during the FULL smoking ban and revenues were better. But THEY don't want you to know that. BAN SMOKING FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER!!!!!!!!!

• essyma (28) posts 6:21 am

  BEachone: It is widely UNKNOWN that the casinos in PA went to the 50-50 split because the casinos made sure the popular slot machines were conveniently put in the SMOKING sections, as well as closer in proximity to patrons, thus making the non-smoking machines not as profitable in less-trafficked areas. Payouts from machines in non-smoking sections were not as good as smoing machines. The newest machines were put in smoking sections! Non-smoking areas were not smoke-free anyway, smokers walk through them all the time and smoke everywhere they please- non enforcement. Fewer machines in the non-smoking areas. Less choice-less play, less revenue. Dont talk about what you don't know.

• essyma (28) posts 6:16 am

  To BEACHONE: Learn how to read..... MARYLAND AND PHILLY, NOT PA,,, Philadelphia is 100% smokefree by citywide law, banning smoking in ALL public places, which will INCLUDE CASINOS WHEN THEY OPEN and includes racinos. Philly had the sense not to be clauses like the rest of PA and go to anything lower then 100%.

• viola1 (8) posts 5:58 am

  NJ wants the taxes from smokers but we have no rights. I am allergic to perfume but I don't see a ban for people who just reek of that horrible smell. I hope the union workers who lobbied for the smoking ban are not employed any more. I now smoke and gamble in PA.

• JerseyDevil (392) posts 5:50 am

  I quit smoking my three packs a day of cancer sticks many moons ago and it was rough but worth in.The only thing is that I could taste food now and I gained a little.LOL About 75 pounds.I got off my arse and joined a gym and I am doing ok now.My wife and I got to Borgota and play the slots and there are some areas for smokers.Sadly thats where the good slots are and my problem IS the smoke but I can stand the smoke to a degree. There are smokers who use it to get the slot machines that you are playing.They and some times their smoker friends sit next to you and puff away until you are forced too leave.The worse are the cigar smokers and the sweaty overweight females who have killed their husband with the smoke. I don't hang around to long unless the machine is hot and then I have to defend myself.Most smokers are aware of the problem and cut it down a bit.They are ones who can't stop but are working on it and are very friendly.

• beachone (25) posts 4:48 am

  Maryland and Philly are 100% smoke free, not true. All Pa casinos are 50/50 after a failed smokng ban was tried last year. In Pa they tried a 72/25 ban and the income dropped like a rock and Maryland havent decided what direction they will go with a smoking ban once their casinos open. As for Pa casinos it is widely known that the smoking areas outgain the non smoking sections at a 5 to 1 income pace. One way or the other I dont care what happens in AC because we have dropped our vsits down to once a summer versus 6 times a year. b1

• ericdagreat (15) posts 4:05 am

  McFATSODEVITTs people are petrified of what?? they just got a FAT contract with his cronies at harrahs...we all know he is BOUGHT and OWNED by harrahs and Trump. What does he care about a smoking ban when more then 3/4ths of "HIS" people who don't speak english work in the back of the house not on the floor as we dealers do. 80% or more DON'T SMOKE. You can say it all you want...the Poker rooms are SMOKEFREE, Delaware, Maryland, NEW YORK and Philly are 100% Smokefree! There is never a good time for the casinos to change to smokefree, they would rather have all of us die of 2ndhandsmoke. NY and DE revenues are way better then AC and they are smokefree. Juliano smokes in his office! What hypocrites. The full ban in Oct and Nov went smoothly and revenues were in the single digit losses compared to DOUBLE DIGITS in sept and dec with partial ban. DUH!!!

• dannyng90 (1) posts 3:19 am

  Catastrophic for who, juliano? You, Corbo and McDevitt?? the three biggest liars in AC?? Protecting the employees and patrons health and welfare??? No, you wouldn't dream of doing that. Bringing in more non-smoking patrons? why would u want to do that?? You have no clue how things work. Corbo and McDevitt and Juliano use scare tactics, while they suck all of the life out of their employees....that is what is sickening....most of McDevitts local 54 people don't even work in the casino where there is smoke. liar.

• essyma (28) posts 3:05 am

  another horribley written biased for smokers article by the negative don wittkowski, supported by casinos. Bruce Ward is our savior and if not for him, we wouldnt have the 75% smoking ban (that the casinos fail to want to enforce!). This is a health issue first!! you cant smoke on planes, in any workplace in NJ, and you say the casinos should allow it? that is ridiculous. The cigar-chompers are not here anymore, and Delaware is smokefree and very successful! take your cigarettes and shove them!

• Republican4Mayor (161) posts 12:50 am

  Today being the 1 year anniversary of the implosion of the Sands, we lost 3,658 jobs and now have a hole in the center of our city thanks to this Mayor and his administration. Look where they are taking you and ask yourself, do we really need to scare more people away from Atlantic City at this time? When the Mayor issued the demolition permits to Pinnacle for the Sands Hotel & Casino, he should have included a reverter clause that said if the new building was not up by a certain date (and operating) that Pinnacle would pay taxes on the proposed structure, even if the lot was left an empty eye sore as it stands now. However, there is no foresight into the future by this Mayor and the current administration. REPLACE THEM ON NOV. 3 before we all must leave town.

• RandomX856 (61) posts 11:33 pm

  UNBELIEVABLE! Bruce Ward, do A.C. a favor and go stand in the center lane of the Expressway.

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