Atlantic City Says No Smoking

The anti-smoking law that Atlantic City passed making casinos 75% smoke free has gone into effect, and the casinos are not happy about it. The law goes into effect just as the casinos started saying that they were earning slightly higher revenues than they did a year ago – and that this was good considering the competition they have gotten from Pennsylvania and New York.

They were concerned after they showed a decrease in slot machine revenues, but it seems that their concerns may have been unfounded. But now with them going smoke free, and the other states allowing smoking in their casinos, this could take away the small profit that the city experienced last month.

Up until now, Atlantic City had received an exception stating that their casinos were the only place in the state that did not have to be smoke free indoors. The casinos were happy with the exception, but their employees went to the City Council and asked for the smoking ban to include the casinos. They say that the amount of smoke that they have to breathe in is excessive and harmful to their health.

Officials made 25% smoke free, but that wasn’t enough for the employees so now it is 25% smoking with the rest smoke free. Casino officials say that it is going to be hard enough to compete with neighboring states and their slot machines, but to put them at a further disadvantage is just hurting the state. Experts say that if the casinos cannot compete there will be less money coming in from the casinos which will mean higher taxes for New Jersey residents, as well as fewer jobs. The casinos will have to lay people off to make up for the loss of income, something they say those who asked for the smoking ban did not take into consideration.

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