Atlantic City authorities set to amend smoking ban
Monday 27th October 2008
While we are all very quick to criticise local authorities when they implement strange rules which may actually impact negatively on the area, we are less than praising of those who actually adapt and change with the economic environment. As a consequence we may well be praising the Atlantic City authorities later this evening as they are currently considering a vote on the new smoking ban which only came in to play 12 days ago.
This ill advised ban was pushed through at a time when casinos were already under pressure and local businesses were struggling. However, it was the 20% plus fall in revenues after the ban was introduced which caught the headlines meaning that not only did casinos bosses suffer but the local authority tax take was substantially lower. So what are they planning to do?
The word is that the local authorities are voting on a motion to postpone implementation of the new smoking ban by one year and revert to the olds rules. These old rules restricted smoking to no more than 25% of the casino’s public floor space and while unwelcome they were a lot better than the new total ban. Results should be known later this evening, so fingers crossed............