The City Council unanimously approved a total smoking ban ordinance that will make the casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey completely smoke free come October 17 of this year. Mayor Scott Evans said he will sign the measure into law within 10 days. This will end the year long battle over a previous ordinance that allowed smoking on 25 percent of the casino floor.

In January 2007, Atlantic City tried to pass a law banning smoking in the casinos but backed down under pressure from the casino industry. The City Council then enacted a compromise law restricting smoking to no more than 25 percent of the casino floor. There were many complaints that it was ineffective because smoke was drifting from the smoking sections of the casino into the non-smoking areas. The casino industry is already citing the present partial ban for the reduced revenue being felt by the Atlantic City casinos and they feel that the complete ban will drive customers to nearby States that allow smoking in the casinos. There is however a push by more States to curtail smoking in the casinos.

More than two dozen states nationwide regulate smoking inside casinos, eight ban smoking altogether inside the gambling halls, and two others will impose a total ban starting in 2009, according to Karen Blumenfeld, policy director of the New Jersey Group Against Smoking Pollution. Lawmakers in Connecticut are trying to extend the present public smoking ban to include Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun, which are located on Native American reservations. Both casinos claim that smoking restrictions would be a threat to tribal sovereignty. Pennsylvania lawmakers debated last week to make the casinos completely smoke-free or limit smoking to 25 percent of the gaming floor which is similar to the smoking restrictions in Atlantic City which were just replaced in favor of the total ban on smoking.