NEW SMOKING BAN IN ATLANTIC CITY ROLLS SNAKE EYES

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Wed, May. 03, 2006



NEW BAN ROLLS SNAKE EYES

By Suzette Parmley
Philly Inquirer Staff Writer

ATLANTIC CITY - While he strolled the Boardwalk with a cigarette dangling from his lips, Elio Papa was irate over having to light up in a designated smoking area in one of the casinos.

"The bottom line is, people who want to gamble want to smoke and drink," Papa, 27, a bar manager from New York, said. "The three go together."

The exemption to New Jersey's 21/2-week-old smoking ban that permits smoking on the gambling floor of Atlantic City casinos seems to be bothering the most unlikely of groups: smokers at the resort.

Kenny Thorne, a smoker of 35 years, complained that the smoking ban unfairly restricted his movement in the casino. He said he could not get cash from a nearby ATM or a drink at a bar without having to put out a cigarette - often a fresh one.

"Telling someone they can't smoke is like telling them they can't eat," Thorne, 50, of North Philadelphia, said recently as he puffed while playing a quarter slot machine at the Trump Taj Mahal - the only area of the casino in which smoking is permitted.

While casino owners say it is too soon to tell if the smoking ban will affect business, some employees of the bars and restaurants in the casinos that are not on the gambling floor fear it could hurt them in the long run as competitors find ways to get around the ban.

For instance, they say a threat is near with the reopening of beach bars along the Boardwalk. Beach bars, most of which are expected to open early next month, are seasonal bars attached to the casinos, but are exempt from the ban because they are outdoors.

The New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act, which took effect April 15, prohibits smoking in all indoor public places and workplaces, including bars and restaurants. Eighteen other states have similar bans.

New Jersey lawmakers, mindful that Nevada has not banned smoking, carved out an exemption for Atlantic City's $5 billion casino industry. Smoking is permitted in a casino as long as it's confined to the gambling floor. That casino floor has to have at least 150 slot machines and 10 table games, and must be approved by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission to qualify for the exemption.

Some casinos, including the Showboat and Trump Taj Mahal, will soon open bars in the middle of their gambling floors. Casino owners say the smoking ban was never a factor in the planning and design of the bars.

Instead, it was in response to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa's success with B Bar - a trendy bar in the middle of that casino's cavernous gambling floor - that they set out to emulate. To their delight, when the new bars open this year, they will be exempt from the new law by virtue of being on the casino floor.

Showboat's nearly 10-month-old House of Blues club and casino has Spirit Bar in the middle of the floor, and a second one, 12 Bar, is under construction and is set to open Memorial Day weekend. Resorts opened 25 Hours - a bar and lounge on its gambling floor - last July where patrons can smoke.

Others are looking to benefit from fortuitous timing. A new bar and lounge next to the Baccarat pit will debut Fourth of July weekend at the Taj Mahal. Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. chief operating officer Mark Juliano said that, although the lounge was planned before the smoking ban became an issue, management was now looking into whether it qualified for an exemption from the smoking ban.

Some businesses at the casinos had prepared for the smoking ban, like Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar. Two outdoor balconies were originally designed on the eatery's upper floors strictly for aesthetic reasons: to match the restaurant's Cuban theme. Before Cuba Libre opened in November 2004, the balconies were redesigned to handle outdoor smoking. Smokers have packed the balcony area on weekends since April 15, co-owner Barry Gutin said.

"It's good to have the balconies anyway, but we understood they had a greater value should a smoking ban go into play," he said.

On a recent Saturday, Damin Carrera, 31, a firefighter from the Bronx, took advantage of them. "I like coming out here for fresh air," said Carrera, with a lit cigarette in one hand and a bottled beer in the other.

Cuba Libre is one of nine new restaurants at the $285 million retail, dining and entertainment complex called the Quarter at Tropicana. Each restaurant has a bar, and there are three other separate bars. All are subject to the smoking ban. Several restaurant owners at the Quarter said they were adjusting well to the ban, and believe it will increase patronage.

Jim Haney, general manager of The Palm, recently converted seven booths near the restaurant's bar from smoking to nonsmoking.

"I've had no negative comments," he said. "It just added... dining seating for us. People did not want to sit there because of the smoking environment."

The Tropicana has set up designated smoking areas 25 feet from the casino's main entrance. Casino employees who used to smoke in back areas and loading docks must now go to one of the side streets away from the building like everyone else.

At the Taj Mahal, signs that read "Smoking permitted" were put up April 18 at each of the casino's entrances. Juliano said designated smoking areas next to all three Trump casinos were getting heavy use.

Not surprising, one area where smoking has increased - and dramatically at some casinos - is on the gambling floor.

John Weisdock, a bartender at the Boardwalk Bar, said customers were still confused as to where they could smoke. He predicted that, over time, the ban would hurt bars like his. Boardwalk Bar is a short stroll from the Taj Mahal's giant casino floor - but is not on it.

"Once the summer and good weather is here, they'll get a lot of business at the beach bars," he said. "There will be a lot of ashtrays out there."