Atlantic City casinos could very well become smoke free in the future, considering the forward momentum of a measure designed to close a loophole from a previous smoking ban passed by the Atlantic City Council. This time around, the nine-member council (who all voted in favor of the measure) have specifically made it a priority to close an exemption which hitherto allowed cigarette smoking on the casino floors of Atlantic City resorts and casinos.

Since late September of this year (during which time a resolution was passed in support of the modified exemption), the measure has relatively gone unchallenged for the most part.With concern about the carve-outs stemming back as early as January of this year, the initial smoking ban went into effect in April, and essentially allowed several exemptions, with casinos being one that managed to slip through the red tape.

Since that time, anti-smoking groups and the American Heart Association have supported casino employees and smokefreecasinos.com in their quest to get the loophole removed. Representatives from all of these groups were present at the meeting in which the City Council voted 9-0 in favor of an exemption specifically aimed at the casinos.

Other exemptions specifically written into the original smoking ban will remain unchanged. Locales permitted for indoor smoking include private homes - unless when also used for daycare and healthcare, hotel rooms designated for smoking (no more than 20% of a facility's total rooms), designated smoking rooms in nursing homes in which all residents of the home have agreed to allow the rooms, and private clubs conducting private meetings without employees.

Regarding a loophole that enables private clubs to get around the latter exemption, the City Council did not make this an object of their affairs, but is instead putting all their efforts into fanning the smoke out of Atlantic City Casinos.