Casinos Eye Smoking Lounges To Comply With Partial Ban

The days of Atlantic City Casino patrons puffing on a cigarette while pushing buttons on a slot machine or shuffling stacks of chips may be coming to an end in nearly half this resort's gambling halls.

In two weeks, the city's 11 casinos must comply with a new law restricting smoking to no more than 25% of the gambling floor.

At least five of them plan to comply with the ban by creating nongambling smoking lounges, where patrons can go to light up, have a smoke, and then return to the tables or slots.

Other casinos have decided to wall off sections of their casinos where patrons will be able to smoke while gambling, but the lounges are seen as a cheaper, easier way to satisfy both the law and casino employees, many of whom have vehemently complained about having to work around smokers.

"You get problems with your sinuses, problems with your lungs,'' said Nate Chait, a veteran Atlantic City table games supervisor, who claims he and many co-workers have been sickened by secondhand smoke. "Your eyes burn. You get sore throats. You get more colds.''

The smoking lounges have also won praise from anti-smoking groups who see them as momentum toward a total smoking ban in casinos.

"We think this smoking lounge idea makes good sense,'' said Peter Slocum, a vice president of the American Cancer Society. "It is not perfect, and some people are still going to be exposed to toxic smoke. But not nearly so much as they are now, and will be in other casinos which go with the fig leaf of a 75-25 split on the gaming floor.''