A.C. Casino Smoking Ban

New Jersey passed a law last year that said you could not smoke in public place, but left out the casino floors in the law. They made the casinos exempt from the ruling, which left many people unhappy. Some of those unhappy people were their employees who say that it is making them sick to work at the casinos and in the smoke filled rooms.

The Atlantic City City Council just passed a new ordinance that has put a partial smoking ban in the casinos in place, but depending on who you talk to it still doesn’t make them happy. The casinos’ workers say that now they will be subjected to more concentrated smoke filled areas, but the casinos say that they are happy they get to allow smoking at all.

The employees say that the 25% of the casino floor space that is now allowed to smoke will just become worse for those who have to work there. According to some reports, that section of the casino will now have 5 times the legal limits allowed by the EPA. Some complain that not only that, but they are showing it in their health. One worker, who has never smoked in his life, has been breathing in the smoke for 25 years – he has just finished fighting lung cancer and is clear of it right now.

However, they want to know how many of them have to get sick and/or die before the casinos are willing to do something about it. Harrah’s Entertainment responded by saying that they are trying to find a solution that works for their customers and for their employees, but right now it does not seem as though that is going to be possible.

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