New Jersey senate votes to rid casinos of smoke
TRENTON, N.J. — More than a year after New Jersey’s wide-reaching public smoking ban went into effect, the state Senate has voted to close its biggest loophole, which allows smoking in Atlantic City’s casinos.
The Senate voted 35-0 Thursday to eliminate the exemption that allows gamblers to light up in casinos and horse race simulcasting facilities. The Assembly has yet to consider the bill.
New Jersey’s Smoke-Free Air Act of 2006 bars cigarette, pipe and cigar smoking in most indoor places in the state, including shopping malls, office buildings, restaurants and bars.
“When we approved the Smoke-Free Air Act last session, we were told that adding casinos to the smoking ban would hurt the industry,” said state Sen. Shirley Turner, a co-sponsor of the wider-ranging bill. “However, as we’ve seen, the smoking ban in practice in New Jersey restaurants and bars, while it’s taken some adjustment … hasn’t meant the end of the world.”
If the law is revised to include casinos and racetracks, the only exemptions would be cigar bars, tobacco shops and private homes.
A similar exemption was eliminated in Colorado on June 1 when Gov. Bill Ritter signed House Bill 1269 into law.
The measure expanded the 2006 Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act to include the state’s 40 casinos beginning Jan. 1.
Three key Nevada lawmakers did not return phone calls for comment. Assembly speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas; Senate majority leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno; and Senate minority leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas; were all unavailable.
But state Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno., said the prospect of Nevada casino floors being forced to join smoking bans imposed on other public areas in the state is probably still a few years away.
“Clearly there is a trend to restrict smoking in public,” Leslie said. “Eventually that trend will reach the casino floor. My gut feeling is there is a trend in that direction.”
She said when the topic of a smoking ban in casinos is brought up in the legislature, casino economics and tourism win out over health concerns.
“Public pressure will have to push the issue long before the legislature does,” Leslie said,
The Atlantic City Council in February adopted a citywide smoking ban, which requires at least 75 percent of a casino floor to be smoke-free. That law took effect in April.
Review-Journal writer Arnold M. Knightly contributed to this report.
