April 25th, 2008

After the Atlantic City Council banned smoking in all of their casinos earlier this week, PA casino patrons and lawmakers are examining what it means for casinos here. 

According to the Patriot-News, the NJ move will ”will make it easier for lawmakers to ban smoking at Pennsylvania’s casinos, said Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Public Analysis at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.”  Another PA neighbor, Delaware, has banned smoking in casinos since 2002.

 On the other hand, the AP reports that PA’s smoking ban is moving along “at a slow burn” and the bill is facing a tough legislative timeline – for progress to be made, the bill must be passed by the end of this session – when lawmakers’ attention is typically turned to the budget….”The panel will have to endorse a measure that falls short of a complete ban in order to win sufficient legislative support.”