The almighty chip

For smokers, it’s time to prepare for the inevitable. The neighborhood bar you always dropped by for a beer, burger and a smoke while you watched the big game will be smoke-free before you know it.

The Smoke-Free Air Act was approved by the Assembly 64-12 Jan. 9, then signed into law by then-Gov. Richard Codey on Sunday. Under the law, smoking will be prohibited at indoor public places and workplaces, in-cluding restaurants and bars.

The law will take effect in April, and it’s going to be a big adjustment, especially for those who have smoked for decades and will probably never quit.

We came out on record against this law when politicians in Trenton first started talking about it in 2003. It was our opinion then, as it is now, that business owners should be free to decide for themselves whether their establishments were smoke-free or not, and let the marketplace determine the popularity of their choice.

While we accept that the smoke-free bar is the way of the future, we feel that the exemption of Atlantic City’s casino floors is inherently unfair. The state’s lawmakers, who have imposed this law on businesses while acting as the protectors of public health, ought to be embarrassed at how weak they looked when confronted by the powerful casino lobby.

There is a reason you do not see clocks on the casino floors — they thrive by keeping players at the tables undistracted for long uninterrupted periods of time, and having players get up and leave for a cigarette while they are on a losing streak is a threat to that. And with its status as a big-time tourist destination, the casinos do not want to give visitors any reason to head to Las Vegas, Connecticut or other regional gambling sites instead.

The arguments about this ban hurting the casinos’ businesses are legitimate, but no more so than the ones bar owners in the Jersey Shore area can make. It’s not comparable to the fate of tobacco shops or cigar clubs, businesses which would basically be outlawed altogether without their exemptions.

If the state is going to pass a law in the name of public health, and the law stands to have an impact on business owners’ bottom lines, then it should be applied fairly, across the board. The imminent dangers of secondhand smoke the politicians harp on are no different in a family-owned tavern than a swanky casino.

The only difference between the casinos and the bars is apparently the strength of their lobbies. The Legislature looked awfully cheap in the face of the almighty dollar, or in this case, the almighty casino chip.