Atlantic City currently allows smoking on 25% of the casino floor, but the areas are not contiguous.<\/p>\nOutdoor Gambling<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s spread throughout the floor, which essentially makes the entire casino floor a smoking area,\u201d said Corinne Orlando of the American Heart Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A partial solution is instead being discussed among workers, casino officials and state Legislators: Creating some outdoor gambling spaces where smoking would be permitted. However, there is no wide agreement on just what constitutes an \u201coutdoor area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cThe devil is in the details,\u201d said Pete Naccarelli, a dealer at the Borgata and a leader of the movement to ban smoking in Atlantic City casinos. \u201cAs long as no worker is exposed to secondhand smoke, a truly outdoor area could be a workable solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Las Vegas, with its desert climate, has long offered outdoor gambling, including near \u2014 and sometimes even in \u2014 swimming pools. Gamblers can play cards at swim-up gambling tables.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n In Maryland, \u201coutdoor\u201d gambling areas at casinos in Baltimore and Hanover appear to be largely enclosed spaces with a roof and walls, and some openings to let air in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Ohio, Hard Rock\u2019s Cincinnati casino also has what it calls a \u201csmoking patio,\u201d separate from the main casino floor, that has ventilation systems and some direct air flow from outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smoking opponents cite the outdoor smoking area that Harrah\u2019s in New Orleans opened about five years ago as a better alternative \u2014 with open walls and no live table games requiring dealers.<\/p>\n\n\n Those outdoor areas cost between $10 million to $15 million to build, however \u2014 a price tag that does not appear to be within reach of all of Atlantic City\u2019s casinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ten years ago, Atlantic City\u2019s Golden Nugget opened an outdoor gambling area on its deck for use during warm weather. But it is exposed to the elements, not enclosed, and can\u2019t be used for much of the year. The Golden Nugget did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite Here casino workers union that represents housekeeping, food and beverage and other workers, said the idea of outdoor gambling has been talked about for months as at least a partial solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been speaking about this idea with the industry and with the state government since before the summer,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to resolve this with a solution that works for everyone, and I believe that\u2019s attainable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said such areas could be heated during colder months, and that casinos would need to allow workers who don\u2019t want to breathe in smoke to opt out of working in them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n That idea has led to another suggestion being discussed: creating indoor smoking rooms staffed by dealers who agree to work there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democratic state Sen. Shirley Turner, one of the smoking ban bill\u2019s main sponsors, called it \u201cimperative\u201d that indoor smoking come to an end in casinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are solutions such as truly outdoor areas for guests who smoke that do not compromise worker health,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Lupo, president of the casino association, reiterated its longstanding contention that unilaterally banning smoking in Atlantic City casinos while nearby jurisdictions still permit it would hurt the industry, leading to fewer jobs and less tax money to fund state programs for senior citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAdditional time is required to devise and implement a solution that will address the concerns of our employees without jeopardizing jobs and benefits to seniors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ATLANTIC CITY \u2014 Could outdoor gambling be at least a partial solution to an impasse between Atlantic City casino workers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":820,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":995,"href":"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664\/revisions\/995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.leylaj.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/A-Gambler-While-Smoking-Playing.jpg\")
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