Top Stories

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS/AP) ― The days of 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 percent 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."

But some smokers are dreading the coming changes.

"I think I have the same rights as nonsmokers," said Suetta Kyer of Mullens, W.Va. as she played the slots last week while puffing on a cigarette in a long-handled holder. "Why should I have to leave?"

She said she would smoke in a lounge if there were no other option, but would prefer to patronize a casino that still allowed smoking while gambling.

Harrah's Entertainment Inc. owns four casinos here -- Harrah's Atlantic City, Bally's Atlantic City; Caesars Atlantic City and the Showboat Casino-Hotel. All plan to establish smoking lounges to comply with the new law within a few months.

"It is an alternative that is appealing to us because it would take the employees out of the smoking situation," said Juan Carlos Tolosa, the company's eastern division president. "We would make a nice, comfortable lounge so patrons can go in, smoke and then come out. The only times employees would have to go in there was when it was shut down for cleaning."

Since construction will take time, casinos going with the smoking lounge option won't have them up and running immediately on April 15. In the meantime those casinos say they will designate 25 percent of their gambling halls as smoking areas.

All the casinos must put up signs with the universal symbol for no smoking -- a drawing of a cigarette surrounded by a circle with a slash through it -- in the gambling areas where smoking will not be allowed after April 15.

Fred Buro, president and chief operating officer of Tropicana Casino and Resort, said his casino plans to be the first in Atlantic City to have smoking lounges up and running, although he could not say when that might be.

Other gambling facilities are still trying to figure out how they'll comply with the regulation.

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa says smoking lounges are one option it is considering. But as of April 15, it plans to simply increase the non-smoking areas it now has.

"Today we have non-smoking and smoking areas spread out throughout the casino floor," spokesman Michael Facenda said. "All we're doing is reversing the process. On April 15 and thereafter, you'll still be able to find a smoking table and smoking section of slots."

The three casinos operated by Trump Entertainment Resorts -- Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, and Trump Marina Hotel Casino -- have not yet decided how they will comply with the ban, spokesman Tom Hickey said.

Resorts Atlantic City and the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort are still studying long-term options, but plan to allow at least some areas where customers will still be able to smoke while gambling, said Tony Rodio, regional president for both casinos.

The call for a casino smoking ban started last April. The state had passed one of the strictest laws in the nation banning smoking in public places, but it specifically exempted casinos, fearing an economic impact on tourism dollars.

The Atlantic City Council was poised late last year to enact a total smoking ban in the casinos. But it backed down under fierce pressure from the casino industry, which feared the loss of 20 percent of its revenue, and as many as 3,400 jobs.

It then adopted a compromise ordinance in February requiring at least 75 percent of the casino floor to be non-smoking.

The most likely way most casinos will do that on April 15 is simply by putting up dividers similar to those used to designate lines at airports, casino executives said. Then, by Sept. 15 the casinos must submit plans for constructing permanent, walled-off, ventilated areas to the state Department of Community Affairs.

Once the state approves a casino's plan, the gambling hall has 90 days to begin work on the enclosures, and must "expeditiously" complete it. There is no deadline for the state to approve the plans or to having the enclosures up and running.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)